Submit a Panel

We consider submissions from everyone! Proposals are evaluated both individually and against similar types of proposals. To help you focus your proposal, here’s a list of items that will really get you noticed. Panel Submissions are Now Open!

We like proposals for panels that:

• Directly involve anime, manga, or other Japanese culture. For example, a well-planned proposal that features an anime will take priority over an equally well-planned proposal that features an outside fandom, such as American comics or movies. Having said that, we do have a certain amount of leniency, especially if the fandom is large (in other words, we’ve received a lot of proposals for it) or overlaps Anime Blues Con’s main fandoms in some way.
• Are well-planned and has supporting materials. The proposal is our first glimpse of how you communicate and what you want to do at Anime Blues. Make sure it’s well-written and try to include evidence that the panel will be successful. If you can’t include something in the online form (such as a picture) or something changes after you submit it, email it to Support@animeblues.com (make sure to include your name and the panel name for reference).
• Are engaging and interactive. We like lectures, too, but a proposal that introduces a creative way to communicate with the audience really catches our eyes.
• Are more than dressing in character and showing up. You can certainly submit “in-character” panels, but we’d like to see more than, “come ask your favorite character a question” in the description. If you have support for your panel going well in the past, such as videos, we’d like to see that, too.
• Don’t involve physicality. We know that “battle chess” and other such games are super fun, but we don’t have the room or oversight to make sure they run safely, unfortunately.
• Aren’t speed or blind dates. You can definitely submit a proposal, but please know that we’re pretty strict with planning these sorts of events. We have to make sure that all our guests are comfortable and safe, after all. That being said, Yama-Con is a huge gathering of people with interests just like yours – any event could be the place you meet your new best friend!
• Panels for all audience age groups are welcome. Just make sure to let us know your panel is 18+ if it is for more adult audiences!

If you have any other questions about this information or the panelist proposal form, please send an email to Support@animeblues.com

Now that you have a few guidelines, here’s a quick rundown of how the process works:

• You submit your proposal online ON OR BEFORE December 18th, 2022
• Once your panel has been submitted, you will see a confirmation page that lets you know we have received your panel.
• Make sure that you can get emails from Support@animeblues.com
• Your panel will be entered into the decision process.
• The committee will meet once Panel Applications close, to place proposals in one of three categories
  • Approved
  • Tentative
  • Denied
• You’ll be notified of your status via email by December 31st, 2022
• During the decision process, we’ll also be in touch with any questions we have about your proposal. Because of this, we ask that you check your email regularly, at least once a week, and white list emails from *@animeblues.com

It’s important to note that this process isn’t first-come-first-served. For example, if we get a really good proposal about something only loosely connected to anime early on, we’ll often put it in the tentative bucket until we’re sure we have space on the schedule.