Claude Jones (left) and Crystal Rendon (right), the first place winners of this semester’s cosplay contest The Xavierite
On Tuesday, April 15, the DnD (Dungeons & Dragons) club at SXU (Saint Xavier University) hosted a cosplay contest in McGuire Hall.
At the event, members of the DnD Club and anyone else who wished to participate dressed in costumes inspired by various fictional characters of their choosing.
The SXU DnD Club is run by its president, freshman Cattibrie Utley, and its academic advisor, Adrian Hernandez. While the club is an SXU organization, the event was welcome to the public to watch and even participate in.
The organization is fairly new, and is inspired by the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, in which players customize their own characters. Many of the costumes were inspired by different anime series, but were not limited to anime.
Adam Hudson, a student contestant, stated, “Even though cosplay isn’t usually my thing, the event was a blast. The energy was great, the costumes were impressive, and it was awesome seeing everyone come together over something they love.”
“Anyone can compete, even non-SXU people – if you’re not from SXU, we can’t technically give you prizes, but you are still able to compete with us,” Utley explained at the event.
This was one of the first major events hosted on campus by the DnD Club, according to Utley. “This club is brand new. We started this semester,” she further explained.
There were seven contestants total, and prizes were given to the top three contestants at the contest’s conclusion: in third place was Jacob Heredia, dressed as Spider-Man from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”; in second place was Adam Hudson, dressed as Obito “Tobi” Uchiha from the anime “Naruto”; in first place was a pair, Crystal Rendon, dressed as Momo Ayase from the anime series “Dandadan,” and Claude Jones, dressed as the character Okarun from the same series.
The remaining three contestants were Matteo Valencia as Stormtrooper on vacation from Star Wars, Utley as Velvette from Hazbin Hotel, and Adrian Hernandez as a pirate.
Not all contestants were a part of the club before the contest, some even deciding to join off the whim, such as student participant Adam Hudson. “I threw the look together pretty last-minute–cut up some old socks, ninja sprinted to Chinatown two hours before the event before the mask, and grabbed a hat I’d bought years ago at Navy Pier,” Hudson recounted his chaotic, speedy preparation for the event.
Since the club is in its beginning stages, this event was largely hosted to recruit more members to the club. “We’ve tried, as an outreach, to host other events, such as this, and we had a movie night a while ago,” Utley recounts just before the contest, how the DnD Club has hosted other events with similar intentions.
The club plans to host the cosplay contest again next semester, close to Halloween, as Utley believes having it during a time when many will be buying costumes anyway could be a cause for high attendance.