The time has come to start prepping for this year’s BlizzCon contests! All of the contests from BlizzCon 2013 will be returning—Costume, Talent, Art, and Movie—and we can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with to wow us this year.

Information on how to sign up and official rules are coming soon, but if you’d like to start planning your creations in advance, here’s a bit more about what to expect.

Live Contests
BlizzCon® 2014 Costume Contest
The Costume Contest makes a triumphant return. Every year we see more and more spectacular costume creations, and we’re sure that this year will be no exception. It’s important to keep safety in mind as you’re planning your creation—that means you must be able to easily and safely see out of and maneuver in your costume without assistance. This year, we’ll also be holding registration and sign-ups on Friday morning at BlizzCon, so please be prepared to have your costume finished well in advance. Spread the word!

Remember: Make sure your costume allows you to see clearly and move easily. No real weapons, dangerous materials, or large motorized costumes will be allowed.

BlizzCon® 2014 Talent Contest
The Talent Contest will also be returning to the stage at BlizzCon 2014! Last year’s inaugural competition featured the performances of some truly talented musicians. This year, we’re looking forward to seeing performances of all sorts—so even if you can’t carry a tune, your other talents might carry you to the stage.

If you’ve got serious performance chops—dramatic, comedic, musical, or otherwise—you could have a chance to showcase your Blizzard-themed talent live on stage at BlizzCon in front of a massive audience . . . and win great prizes (including a trip to BlizzCon and lodging) to boot. We’ll be accepting YouTube videos of your talent performance in the near future, so start rehearsing!

Whatever you choose to show us, please make sure your video is 2 minutes or less in length, choose a good (higher is better) resolution, and keep it simple. We want to see you just as you would be performing live. Since your audition video could be shown on stage at the show, please make sure that there are no non-Blizzard brand logos present in your shoot.

Online Contests
BlizzCon® 2014 Art Contest
The Art Contest will offer talented artists the chance to show off their work at BlizzCon once again. As you prepare to craft your masterpiece, please keep in mind that you’ll need to submit high-quality jpegs no larger than 5MB. Also, the entire content of your work needs to be your own original creation, so no PhotoShop manipulations of existing work will be accepted

BlizzCon® 2014 Movie Contest
We look forward to screening the work of aspiring auteurs in animation, machinima, live-action filmmaking, and more! Start those storyboards now, but keep in mind that the length of your film should be 3 minutes or less and the size of your file no larger than 100MB. If you’re shooting a live-action piece, please make sure that there are no non-Blizzard brand logos in your video.

Complete rules and more information on all of the upcoming contests will be available soon.

Signups begin in the near future, so start preparing in advance!

Got BlizzCon contest-related questions? Email BlizzConContest@Blizzard.com.