Press Application

Press Membership

Thank you for your interest in becoming press at Kumoricon! With this year already shaping up to be another amazing year, we are pleased to open applications for professional and amateur press to join us for 2025.

We strive to attract a wide variety of press outlets to receive the best coverage for our event, to facilitate this, we feature the following tiered press categories:

Emerging Press
If you are an amateur journalist, a journalism student, part of a school news team, represent an organization founded after September 1, 2024, and/or do not meet the listed Standard Press requirements, you are considered Emerging Press. There is a limit of two badges per organization for Emerging Press.

Emerging Press membership features:

• Complimentary weekend membership to Kumoricon
• Ability to sign up for early entry into events for setup, if space is available:
  
  • Advance sign-up required
  • First-come, first-served
  • Generally 1 spot per Emerging Press outlet, per panel; up to 2 spots in Main Events

Standard Press
Standard Press is defined as an established news outlet. Your organization or outlet must have been active for at least two (2) years; "active" to be determined based on your press type (please see our website). Traditional Print will be considered "active" if they are visibly published every three months.

Standard Press organizations are generally granted up to four badges per team, but larger teams may be accepted on a case by case basis.

Standard Press membership features:

• Complimentary weekend membership to Kumoricon
• The chance to request private interviews with our Guests of Honor
• Ability to sign up for early entry into events for setup if space is available:
  
  • Advance sign-up required
  • First-come, first-served
  • Generally 1–2 spots per outlet, per panel; and 2–3 spots in Main Events
• Early admittance to pass-required events, if space is available:
  
  • Advance sign-up required
  • Does not include participation in events with an additional charge unless you have paid that extra charge already
  • Generally 1 spot per outlet, per event; up to 2 spots with prior arrangement

All press will be held to the same code of conduct that applies to all Kumoricon members. Please review the Convention Code of Conduct(https://www.kumoricon.org/code-of-conduct) before applying.

• Each member of a press outlet who will be attending must complete their own press application.
• Any person applying for a press membership must be 18 or older to qualify unless they are a high school student with prior approval from the Press Manager for an Emerging Press membership.
• All press members must identify themselves to staff by having a Kumoricon press badge visible at all times in convention space.
• Photography of specific merchandise in KumoriMarket requires express approval from the exhibitor or artist.
• Use of flash photography is discouraged and must be approved at each event individually.
• Press must follow any and all photography restrictions that apply to regular attendees, which may include restrictions at particular panels or events.
• Offering or soliciting paid photographs or photoshoots is not allowed in convention space (either with a regular membership or press membership).

Press Memberships are limited and not all applications will be approved. The number of memberships issued to an outlet is at the discretion of the Director of Publicity and the Press Manager. Each press application  will receive individual consideration based on their qualifications. A press outlet may be approved for press membership at a different tier than the one they applied for. If it is found that a press membership has been requested under false pretenses, the membership for the applicant will be revoked and anyone else that is a part of the  organization they are applying with may not be approved and/or may have their memberships revoked

To ensure the enjoyment and safety of all Kumoricon attendees, Guests of Honor, staff, and other credentialed Press, Kumoricon reserves the right to revoke any press membership at any time, for any reason. A press member who has had their membership revoked may be restricted from returning to future Kumoricon events, as press or a general attendee. 

Examples of behavior that may result in membership revocation include but are not limited to:

• Violation of the Code of Conduct
• Harassing anyone in or around Kumoricon Convention Space.
• Harassing a Kumoricon Guest of Honor
• Bringing non-press, general attendees to interviews with Guests of Honor
• Bringing non-press, general attendees into press-only areas without prior permission from Kumoricon
• Engaging in unprofessional and/or inappropriate behavior during the event, as determined by Kumoricon staff
• Requesting autographs or sketches outside the normal autograph sessions and/or disobeying the directions of Kumoricon staff manning autograph lines
• Interfering with attendees' enjoyment of the convention
• Violating any Kumoricon policy, facility policy, or law not otherwise listed