Sunday, February 20, 2011

Otafest Offers Scholarships


Did you volunteer for Otafest 2010 or Otafest Lite 2010? Are you going to be a high school student for Fall 2011 or be a post secondary student in Fall 2011 or Winter 2012?

If you meet that criteria then be sure to check this out: http://www.otafest.com/index.php?p=scholarship

The deadline is April 1st and you'll need to write a short essay on the topic "How Volunteering for Otafest Impacted My Life".

I hope offering scholarships is something Otafest will continue to provide in future years. I also hope that this is the start of a trend that other large conventions would be sure to follow.

Update: Two New Calgary Cons Added

Two new conventions have been added to the Canadian Convention 2011 List.

Underground Con - Calgary, AB - May 7th - an RPG gaming convention


When Worlds Collide - Calgary, AB - August 12 - 14th - is self described as a festival for readers, writers, artists, and publishers of imaginative fiction.

Thanks for the links Paul!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Upcoming Events: February 2011

February is a busy month with seven different events happening. Three of which, while in different provinces, happen over the same weekend!
And even another pair happening within Alberta happening on the same day!

In Alberta:

A Taste of Animethon - Edmonton, AB - February 12th
The second year for this one day event. It's of course just a mini convention that shows off just a "taste" of what you'll see later in the year when the main event, Animethon (August 5 - 7th), is hosted.



Noob Con - Grande Prairie, AB - February 12th
I know little about this convention. I believe it is held at the Grande Prairie Composite High School and is a one day school run convention. They have no website or Facebook group that I could find so I couldn't tell you what to expect here.
Thanks to Pauline, group owner of Conventions Canada on DeviantArt, for letting me know the date of this event. If anyone else knows any information they would like to add, like a website or what activities might be found there, leave a comment and I'll update this post to include it!


In British Columbia:

GottaCon - Victoria, BC - Feb 4 - 6th
In it's third year, GottaCon is a gaming convention. Their major events include Warhammer Qualifiers, a Miniature Painting Contest, many XBox 360 Tournaments, PC gaming tournaments and plenty in the card game arena (Magic, Yugioh, World of Warcraft), and a Gamers Silent Auction.

Tsukino Con - Victoria, BC - February 25 - 27th
According to the history section of their site the name "Tsukino-Con" translates to "Convention of the Moon" and is appropriate in the fact that there is a ring road that surrounds the Univeristy of Victoria.
As well they say it's also appropriate because of the Japanese myth of the rabbit in the moon. As the Univerisity of Victoria has many bunnies around as well.
This convention features many events and contests that will sure to have something for any kind of anime fan out there.






In Ontario:


Toronto ComiCon - Toronto, ON - February 6th
This event held in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre has appearing these special guests: Georges Jeanty, Mike Del Mundo, Marcio Takara, and Dave Ross.



Con-G - Guelph, ON - Feb 19- 20th
Pre-registration for this event just finished on January 31st. An anime oriented con that has announced just recently that their Guest of Honor will be Brad Swaile.
They also of course have many other events going on such as: a dance, survival checkers (cosplay chess but checkers), Most Extreme Japanese Gameshow Challenge and of course a Maskerade.





In Quebec:

G-Anime - Gatineau, QB - Feb 5 - 6th
Are you into cosplay? Then you should certainly check out this convention. I have to say I actually really haven't seen a convention before sport a seperate section for Cosplay related guests.
Of course they also have other things going on: Cosplay Chess, the Amazing Cosplay Race, CCG tournaments (Naruto, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh), a Gundam model contest, a Maskerade, and of course many other guests.

2011 Convention Dates UPDATED!

After an unintentionally long hiatus I've come back and have updated the Canadian Convention List 2011 to reflect all current dates and locations for upcoming conventions!

Long story short my course workload was taking up a lot of my time. I'll be getting back into regular posting now though, aiming for twice a month or more.

For now be sure to check the Canadian Convention List 2011 to see what is happening in your area!