Anime North 2025 Model Contest

Welcome back to the annual Anime North Model Contest. Last year we had a staggering number of amazing entries and we expect the competition to be as fierce as ever in 2025, so pick out your kits, ready your tools, and let inspiration take hold; it’s time to get building!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT 2025 ANIME NORTH MODEL & GUNPLA MODEL CONTEST & GBWC 2025


We are proud to announce that alongside our Model Kit competition at Anime North this year, Bandai and Pla mod have informed us that the start of GBWC regionals will be taking place in our event!

You are eligible to enter the GBWC Regional If your entry conforms to the GBWC 2025 rules found at https://gbwc.bandai-hobby.net/en/summary/ & https://gbwc.bandai-hobby.net/en/regulation/ And the GBWC Faqs found at https://gbwc.bandai-hobby.net/en/faq/

Important Notes:
  • Your entries can be entered into both GBWC and the Model & Gunpla Competition so long as they adhere to the rules set forth by GBWC.
  • While our competition does allow oversized kits (such as the Dendrobium and Neo Zeong) they are outside of the GBWC rules in their base form. Please ensure any entry you submit (or want to submit) is within the size limitation as denoted by GBWC.
  • GBWC pins may be available for entrants, however at this time we do not know how they will be distributed. If you have any further questions please send your questions to [email protected] with the subject line Contest Question - or see the FAQS at www.modelandgunpla.com

General

  • By submitting a model entry for competition at the Anime North Model Contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all rules governed by Anime North, Anime North Model & Gunpla and its hosts regulations and guidelines.
  • The entrant also grants the same; the use of any images of their entry for promotional material, such as but not limited to: Digital Live Display, Social Media use, etc.
  • The entrant also allows Anime North, its Staff and Attendees the same rights of publication.
  • The Model & Gunpla group Staff shall endeavor to ensure entries are adequately protected. However, they will not be liable for any loss and damage that may occur during the event.
  • All entries will be accepted during Anime North 2025, from 5pm on Friday May 23rd to 11:30am on Sunday May 25th. No entries will be allowed after this period.
  • Judging will take place on Sunday May 25th from 12 noon to 3pm.
  • The award ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 25th at 3:30pm at the Model & Gunpla Area.

Eligibility

  • Those persons who are Eligible for entry are as follows; Anime North Attendees, Anime North Vendors, Anime North Staff, Anime North Guests, and anyone retained for services by Anime North not listed here and Model & Gunpla Staff with the sole exception of the Model & Gunpla contest Judges.
  • Entrants must possess a completed registration form (entry forms are available on site for registration) and provide if requested a valid Anime North badge.
  • Entrants may only enter a maximum of 2 entries per category, with a total entry count of 5.
  • All entries must be built and completed by the entrant (i.e. 2 or more persons working on the entry is forbidden). The only exception to this are Parents registering on behalf of a Minor, so long as the entry is under the Minors name, they are present for the awards ceremony, and it is wholly the Minors work.
  • Entries that have won either a “Best of” or First place in any local competition prior to the start of Anime North of the current year are not eligible to be entered. (i.e. HeritageCon, GBWC, Torcan).
  • Wargaming Miniatures, or miniatures in general, Mecha or otherwise are not eligible for entry in any category unless specified. You can however, use parts from wargaming miniatures to accent your entry (Such as ammo boxes or weapons).
  • Model kits that depict real life military vehicles, such as M1A2 Abrams Tank are not eligible to be entered, unless they are used for kitbashing purposes.
  • Entries will not be eligible and/or subject to disqualification for the competition if they display any of the following:
    • Explicit Sexual Content, regardless of degree
    • Gratuitous violence and gore
    • Entries that depict or display’s any imagery or symbolism that promotes or is associated with real life racism, discrimination, or hate speech.
    • Any contravention to the above will be handled on a case by case basis by the Contest Head.
  • The base model kit must be a licensed kit. “Third Party” kits, Garage Kits or, Recasted kits (including add-on parts) are not eligible for entry. Mixing products however is allowed (such as a Gunpla with 30mm parts) - unless noted specifically within the category itself.
  • Craft materials of all kinds are allowed for the use of modifying your entry or base, an example (but not complete) list of allowed materials is as follows:
    • PLA plate
    • Putty
    • Clay
    • Wood
    • UV Cured Resin
    • Fabric
    • Metal decal parts
    • Metal rods
    • LEDS
    • Diorama products
    • FDM Printed items
  • SLA (Resin) 3d printed parts are not allowed in any form on the entry, they can however be used for diorama detail purposes, an example would be of micro scale street lamps and must be declared on your entry sheet.
  • Any FDM printed parts must be declared on the registration sheet.
  • The entry cannot not exceed 50 cm in length, width, or height. Unless the base kit exceeds this size. (For oversized Entries any Diorama cannot exceed this size limitation - such as a Dendrobium with a Diorama) It is wholly the entrant's responsibility to ensure their oversized entry can be displayed in a stable and safe manner.
  • The Contest head & Judges reserve the right to move an entry into a more appropriate category.
  • The Contest head & Judges' rulings are final.
  • If an entry is found to be in violation of these rules by the Contest Head, will be moved to an appropriate category, or disqualified.

Awards

  • Each Category will be presented with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place award. Any single entrant may be eligible for multiple awards in each category.
  • One entrant will also be presented with the John Martin Best in Show award, we present this in his memory for his many, many years of work with the Anime North Toy Display and Model Contest.
  • Any entrant who is under 18, will automatically be judged for the Rising Star award.
    • Note: if there are no entrants who are under 18, this will be at the discretion of the contest head as to who receives this award, if any.
  • All entrants who receive an award, will also receive an additional prize, this will change from event to event.

Categories

Bandai Gunpla kits 1/144 or smaller (such as SD scale or Artifact kits), with the exception of any High Grade kit with the overall base kit size larger than 9 inches (22.86 cm) in any direction; not including any weaponry such as backpack mounted cannons, funnels, handheld weaponry. Any kit above this size threshold is to be moved to Gundam Open - Large Scale.

In this Category you can incorporate any of the following for your entry; custom paint including weathering, seam/gap filling, kit modification or kit combination (kitbashing), LED lighting effects, custom scribing, custom parts, provided/custom or third party Decals.

Bandai Gunpla kits 1/100 or larger, including any 1/144 scale kit that is above the size threshold.

In this Category you can incorporate any of the following for your entry; custom paint including weathering, seam/gap filling, kit modification or kit combination (kitbashing), LED lighting effects, custom scribing, custom parts, provided/custom or third party Decals.

**Special Note: You are no longer required to provide a physical manual during registration. If a kit is determined to be modified outside of the out of box rules, it will be moved to the appropriate category without notification to the entrant.

Out-of-Box Entries may be of any scale or size but must be built straight out of the box and will be judged on technical modeling and/or painting skills only. (Note, oversized kits such as Dendrobium/ Neo Zeong/ Nightingale may be entered into this category)

Dedicated add-on parts: Can also be included with the build must be declared on entry & all prior out of box rules apply to add-on parts) some examples being:
  • Demi Trainer/Aerial/Aerial Permit Score 6 - Mirasoul Backpack
  • Demi Trainer/Chu Chu’s Demi trainer - Demi expansion parts.
  • RG Strike Gundam - RG FX550 Skygrasper Launcher / Sword pack

Note: Entry of these are at the judges discretion - this does not allow non dedicated (kitbashing) add-ons to be entered (i.e. Lightning pack 2 must go with lightning Gundam only).

In this Category you can only incorporate any of the following for your entry; Seam/gap filling, Custom paint job, provided/custom or third party decals, re-scribing of lost panel lines due to gap/seam filing and paint based weathering. For Out-of-Box and Artifact kits - A base may be used for stability of pose - however only the technical aspects/pose of the kit will be judged.
In this category non-gundam Mecha are allowed, this includes any official kits or custom builds (Scratch Builds) from any TV series, movies or video games, some examples include but are not limited to; Macross, Votoms, Evangelion, Patlabor, Super Robot Wars, Dougram, Pacific Rim, Full Metal Panic!, Layzner, Mospeada, Break Blade, Armoured core, Maschinen Krueger, Iron Harvest, Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun, Steel Battalion. etc.

In this Category you can incorporate any of the following for your entry; custom paint including weathering of all types, seam/gap filling, kit modification or kit combination(kitbashing), LED lighting effects, custom scribing, custom parts, provided/custom or third party Decals. Note: any scratch built Mecha in this category must incorporate parts from an existing kit or kits..
In this category any character model kits are allowed, this includes any official kits from any TV series ,movies or video games, some examples include but are not limited to; Dragon Ball Z, Kamen Rider, Mecha Musume, 30 Minute Sisters, Frame Arms Girls, Megami Devices, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ultraman, Godzilla, Space 1999. Etc.

Note: this category is only for entry of figure model kits, and does not allow statues or figures.

In this Category you can incorporate any of the following for your entry; custom paint including weathering of all types, seam/gap filling, kit modification or kit combination(kitbashing), LED lighting effects, custom scribing, custom parts, provided/custom or third party Decals.
In this category any Space, Land, Sea and Air Vehicles are allowed, this includes any official kits or custom builds (Scratch Builds) from any TV series, movies or video games, some examples include but are not limited to; Gundam, Space Battleship Yamato, Dragon Ball Z, Kamen Rider, Star Wars, Star Trek, Ultraman, Godzilla, Space 1999, Sandland, Ghost in the shell etc.

Note: this category does not permit any kits that pertain to real life military kits, unless used in a conversion for a vehicle that does not have an officially released kit. Repainting a real life military vehicle does not constitute a conversation and will not be eligible for entry.

In this Category you can incorporate any of the following for your entry; custom paint including weathering of all types, seam/gap filling, kit modification or kit combination(kitbashing), LED lighting effects, custom scribing, custom parts, provided/custom or third party Decals.
We are offering a special prize to the best entries from a kit from the anime series universe of “Mobile Suit Gundam Wing” (including Gundam Wing Episode Zero, Gundam Wing Dual Story G Unit, Gundam Wing Blind Target ,Endless Waltz ,Glory of the Losers, Tiels impulse, Battlefield of Pacifists, Frozen teardrop and Gundam Evolve 7 - and the following Specific kits - BD Leo NPD, Wing Gundam Sky Zero, Wing Gundam Fenice & Wing Gundam Zero Honoo); if you enter any kit that is from Gundam Wing, it will automatically enter into this category on top of any other category you are initially entered into.

Judging

The entries will be judged using criteria inspired by but not wholly identical to International Plastic Modellers' Society (IPMS) contests, allowing for evaluation of the full spectrum of model making skills.

Scope of Effort - out of 30 points

This considers the creativity of your entry and the amount of work required in executing that idea. Examples include kit-bashing, adding surface detail, re-sculpting and reshaping, and many more modeling skills. The quality of work is just as important as the quantity of work. Well done modifications will usually score higher than an out-of-box build. Ambitious but poorly done modifications might score lower than a flawless out-of-box build.

  • Note: The Out-Of-Box Category will not have a judging criteria for Scope of Effort as there is no customization allowed

Paint - out of 30 points

This considers the finish of your entry such as painting and weathering. Is the overall finish consistent with the story the model tells? Is the paint texture appropriate?  Does the weathering have a logical pattern? Are the decals blended in?

Craftsmanship - out of 30 points

This evaluates the construction of your entry. Are the kit artifacts such as mold lines, seam lines, gate marks, etc taken care of? Are there sanding/filing marks showing through, uneven panel lines, or other defects?

Pose and Presentation - out of 10 points

They say presentation is everything! That’s not necessarily true, but it will nab you more points for having a good pose for your entry.


Four judges will each award out of 100 points using the criteria above for a total score out of 400 for each entry. In case of numerical ties the judges will debate and decide the final top 3 placements for each category.


For full contest rules, regulations, and allowances, please see the following document: Link to PDF

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