St. Petersburg, Florida welcomes a brand new anime convention on September 17-18 called Anime St. Pete. The new con offers a wide variety of entertainment options for guests including five fun competitions! There will be two cosplay contests, a lip sync competition, a TikTok film festival, and a fan art contest.
Cosplay Contests
There are two separate cosplay competitions at Anime St. Pete. The first, on Saturday, will focus on cosplay craftsmanship and the second, on Sunday, will be for all other cosplayers in a runway event.
Craftsmanship Cosplay Contest
Are you a cosplayer who makes or modifies costumes? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to try? Anime St. Pete has the perfect event for you. The Craftsmanship Cosplay Contest celebrates creativity in the community by putting on a grand show for convention guests. The judges are award-winning cosplayers, including: @Cafededuy, @Abradorable, and @Kayecosplay. The event will be hosted by @Avera_Cosplay, who is no stranger to competitions herself. The contest will take place on Saturday, September 17 with $500 in cash prizes. Read more about the competitions and pre-register today on the Anime St. Pete website.
Runway Cosplay Contest
Cosplay takes all kinds of talent beyond crafting. The Runway Cosplay Contest on Sunday, September 18 is for cosplayers who might be clumsy with a needle and thread. Every cosplayer brings something unique and Anime St. Pete looks forward to seeing the talent shine! There’s no need to pre-register for this contest, but you can read more about the rules here.
Lip Sync Competition
Anime St. Pete is also putting its own twist on lip sync competitions. Performers, actors, and anyone simply looking to have fun on stage is encouraged to sign up for this spectacular show. The Sunday, September 18th competition will award $200 in cash prizes. Learn more and sign up for the Lip Sync Competition!
TikTok Film Festival
TikTok, a video-sharing social media app, hosts many talented artists. Anime St. Pete introduces a one-of-a-kind TikTok Film Festival to celebrate the overlap between anime fans and TikTok users. Bring your creativity and share your masterpieces by submitting your own TikTok! $500 in cash prizes are available for competition winners. The TikTok Film Festival will take place on Saturday, September 17th and you must submit TikToks in advance.
Fan Art Contest
Calling fan artists of all ages! Submit your artwork for a chance to win $200 in cash prizes and medals at Anime St. Pete. Artists of all skill levels are welcome to enter and entries will be displayed during the convention.
Anime St. Pete
Anime St. Pete is a brand new con and St. Petersburg’s only anime convention! It’s being held at The Coliseum, the same venue St. Pete Comic Con was held at in January 2022. Anime St. Pete tickets are on sale now.
Anime St. Pete goes big with a line-up of popular anime voice actors
The new con is going big with anime voice actors. Here are the voice actors currently scheduled for Anime St. Pete:
- Dallas Reid, who voices Asta from Black Clover and Zack from Angels of Death (below, first row left)
- Bryson Baugus, who voices Shoyo Hinata from Haikyu!! and Falco Grice from Attack on Titan (below, first row right)
- Aaron Dismuke, who voices Tamaki Amajiki from My Hero Academia and Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist (below, second row left)
- Jill Harris, who voices Noelle Silva from Black Clover and Chiyo Yumehara from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K (below, second row right)
- Ryan Bartley, who voices Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Young Kyojuro Rengoku from Demon Slayer (below, third row left)
- Chris Guerrero, who voices Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord and Shadow from Sk8 the Infinity (below, third row right)
Anime St. Pete Features Some of the Best Cosplayers from Around the State
Also, Anime St. Pete features a roster of the top anime cosplayers in Florida, all of whom have appeared (or scheduled to appear) in Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. Five of the guest cosplayers have been announced, with two more to be shared by June. The guest cosplayers are judges in the various competitions. And each has a booth with merch (stop by and say hi!)
- Crystal River cosplayer, @Abradorable, who is featured in the March, 2022, issue of Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. (first image below)
- Largo cosplayer, @DanaduhBuffalo, who is featured in the February, 2022, issue of Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. (second image below)
- Fort Myers cosplayer, @Avera_cosplay, who is featured in the April, 2020, issue of Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. (third image below)
- Jacksonville cosplayer, @Elissakathryn_, who is featured in the April, 2022, issue of Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. (fourth image below)
- Orlando cosplayer, @Feycrafts, who is featured in the May, 2022, issue of Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine. (fifth image below)
Need help finding conventions in Florida?
Florida Comic Cons publishes the Con Calendar, a curated calendar of upcoming conventions. Each convention listing includes in-depth info about the event like guests, artists and cosplay contests. In addition, there are lots of helpful links for things like buying tickets, registering as a vendor, and learning more about characters.
Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine published by Florida Comic Cons
Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine, published by Florida Comic Cons, attends many conventions in Florida in search of talented cosplayers. The magazine is published seasonally. In addition, Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine publishes special editions, photo galleries and blogs of conventions we attend. The magazine is free.
Monthly Issues
Monthly issues focus on cosplayers and the characters they have chosen to portray. Cosplayer photos and interviews as well as character images and backgrounds are loaded in the monthly magazines.
Convention blogs and special editions
Convention special edition magazines, photo galleries and blogs showcase cosplayer photos and provide news reports about conventions we attend.
