Worlds and Heavens with International Cosplay Competitive Rights
Hafnarfjörður will have a representative in one of the world's most prestigious costume contests. The preliminary round will be held at the costume and games event, Heimar og Himingeimar, here at our library in Hafnarfjörður. The festival was awarded the right to host the competition following last year's contest.
Worlds and Heavens, 4-6 September
The convention Heimar and Heavens has been granted the rights to hold the Icelandic qualifier for the Nordic Cosplay Championship. The winner of the preliminary round in Hafnarfjörður will compete for Iceland in the NCC finals, which are held at NärCon in Sweden, one of Europe's largest cosplay competitions with around thirty thousand attendees annually.
Home and Skies will therefore be one of only 16 official qualifying tournaments for the competition, to be held around the world in 2026. Participating countries include the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Nordic countries. Next year, Australia and Poland will also join.
A meeting with representatives of the 501st Legion, who will have a major role at the costuming and gaming convention Homeworlds and Hemispheres on 4-6 September.„This is a huge recognition for Heima & Himingeimi and the Icelandic cosplay community,“ says Unnur Helga Möller, project manager for Heima & Himingeimi. „Icelanders have long been known for throwing themselves into a sport with gusto, and Cosplay is no different.“
Unnur says that Heimum og himingeimum was invited to send a competitor in July this year, after the festival here at home last year, but the winner then fell ill and was unable to attend. The winner this year will therefore be the first to compete internationally on behalf of us Hafnarfjörður residents.
The petite woman was the winner of last year's Heima cosplay competition. Here as ‘Sakurahead’ from the ‘Silent Hill’ video game series. Photo/AnsayCosplay is a creative art of costume-making where people recreate well-known characters or design their own outfits based on specific fictional worlds. Craftsmanship, concept development, execution and stage presence are all taken into account when judging contestants.
There will be competition in three categories at Worlds and Heavens:
- Youth category for participants under 14 years of age
- Cosplay category for 14 and over
- A craft category where more than 60% of the costumes must be made from scratch by the competitor themselves.
The winner of the craftsmanship category will be eligible to compete for Iceland in the Nordic Cosplay Championship at NärCon in Sweden.
„We have some fantastic people who will do us proud, I'm sure of it. We're also seeing a record number of entries in our Craft category this year,“ says Unnur.
The Heimar and Himingeimar festival was first held in 2024, and around five thousand people attended in its first year. The following year, attendance had more than doubled, with around ten thousand visits recorded over the festival weekend.
The festival will be held at Hafnarfjörður Library in Firði from 4–6 September. Admission and participation are free of charge.
- Registration for the cosplay competition is now open. Home page of Home and the Universe.
Caption: The photos below show the competitors at the Nordic Cosplay Championship in July this year. Photos/NCCevent