Animazement

Animazement is an anime convention held since 1998 in the Research Triangle Park Area in North Carolina. It was first held in Raleigh at the North Raleigh Hilton and moved to Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Durham in 2001. While originally held in March, since 2002 the convention has been held over Memorial Day weekend. In 2009, Animazement was held in the new Raleigh Convention Center.

Programming
Animazement regularly features events includes a musical, a dance (or two), Karaoke, Anime Hell, cosplay chess,and a Music Video contest. In addition, there are several panels and workshops throughout the convention, covering typical anime convention panel-material, such as voice acting, learning Japanese, and costume construction. Many of these panels and workshops feature convention guests.

Cosplay
Every convention, a Cosplay contest is held on Saturday night, often taking up most of the evening. Prizes are awarded to the best participants in each division, with winners determined by a panel of judges. Each guest also gives an individual prize.

Cosplay Chess
Starting in 2007, cosplay chess has become an annual event at Animazement. Run by the group Teddybomber and the Mitchbot Minions, the event involves a themed chess match utilizing cosplayers as the chess pieces.

Anime Hell
Anime Hell, a panel held late on Friday night, shows bizarre video clips from a variety of sources that, contrary to the name, are not necessarily anime or even Japanese. Past clips included videos of Heino, Yatta, Rejected, and the clip from Minky Momo wherein Momo is run over by a truck. The selection of clips rotates and changes every year.