March 6-8, 2015

St. Louis Airport Marriott

Latest News

Pre-registration closed, but at-con registration still available.

Pre-registration for Kawa Kon 2015 is now closed. You can, however, buy badges at the convention for only $5 more than the online price. One day badges will also be available. We take cash, Visa, or Mastercard. See you there!

The Kawa Kon Planner App!

We've created an app for organizing your convention schedule using Eventbase. You can access it by downloading the Eventbase app to your mobile device and finding the "Kawa Kon 2015" schedule in the search bar. There are two (we seem to have accidentally duplicated it), so choose the one that doesn't tell you "Coming Soon" when you click on it. You can create your own customized schedule and see event/panel descriptions at the touch of a finger.

Schedule Uploaded!

As always, the schedule is subject to change, but you can download it here for your convention-planning purposes.

A Big "Thank You" to Our Sponsors!

We've always gotten some great support from companies for our convention prizes, but this year it's overwhelming!

Thank you to:

Big Finish Productions

Professor Shyguy - Cancellation and Free Download

From Professor Shyguy: "Hey everybody who is attending Kawa Kon and was expecting to see me there this year, I have some bad news... (or good news if you don't like my face)
I got an offer to perform at PAXEast, and I'm going to go there and do that. You know I love you guys, I've been there for the past 4 years as Professor Shyguy, the Aeronauts, or both, and I will be back again. There are awesome things to see this year! Eliza Rickman is amazing and I know you'll enjoy her!
Since I feel bad, I'm making my album free to download for a couple days that you can play in absence of me.

https://professorshyguy.bandcamp.com/album/rated-heart
Enjoy the Kon!"

New Guest - Voice Actor Joshua Seth

Kawa Kon is excited to add Joshua Seth to our list of guests for 2015. Joshua Seth was the voice of Tai in Digimon, Dio in Last Exile, Hige in Wolf's Rain, and dozens of other recognizable roles from Trigun to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Due to professional commitments, Joshua will only be appearing on Saturday, but he will be offering autographs and a Q&A as well as an hour-long, anime-themed hypnosis show. Read more about Joshua on the Guests Page.

New Guest - Artist Inonibird (aka Cara Cioffari)

Longtime Metal Gear fans will recognize her as the creator of the Cobra Days, but more recently Cara's projects have reflected her love of mythology. While working on her ongoing webcomic C'est la Mort, Cara has also found a new fanbase with Stick-Gods, a painfully punny comic about the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. Learn more about Cara on the Guests Page.

New Guest - Voice Actor and Composer Scott Ampleford

Visiting us from England is composer Scott Ampleford who created the music for Doctor Puppet as well as various commercials and short films. Scott is also a working voiceover artist. Learn more about Scott on the Guests Page.

Kawa Kon welcomes Brass Engine Productions!

The stars from the first season of Steamworks and Shadows, the steampunk web series following the exploits of Airship Vindus, the Sky Marshals, the Hand of Glory Gang, and the infamous Academaie Veritas, will be hosting several panels and events throughout the weekend. Read more about Brass Engine Productions on the Guests Page.

Last Pre-registration Deadline - February 24

Pre-registration ends for Kawa Kon on February 24. The benefits of pre-registering are your name pre-printed on your badge, $5 less than the at-door price, and a much faster registration line at the con. Cosplayers pay only $40 for the whole weekend! Register today.

Panelist Registration Closed

Thank you to everyone who submitted panels! You should be notified in the next week or so which panels were added to the schedule.

Fanfic, Frackfic, and AMV/Video Contests

Our contest rules for 2015 are now online. Check the Contests Page for details, rules, and deadlines. Contest winners will be annouced during the Saturday evening masquerade.

Vendor Room Full

Thank you to all artists and dealers who have registered! We've got a lot of new and returning vendors for 2015. If you would like to be put on our waiting list, please send an email to kawakonstl@gmail.com.

Musical Guest - Eliza Rickman

Her haunting music was featured in Welcome to Night Vale, and now we welcome Eliza Rickman to Kawa Kon 2015! She will be performing two concerts and be available during the weekend for autographs. Read more about her on our Guests Page.

British Invasion Guest - Alisa Stern

Animator Alisa Stern is returning for Kawa Kon 2015 by popular demand. Alisa's famous Doctor Puppet animations have been featured by the Nerdist on BBC America as well as mentioned in Entertainment Weekly since we last saw her. She'll be bringing along puppets to see and touch as well as exclusive footage.

Do you need help paying for your badge?

After six years of Kawa Kon, we've found that many of our attendees come from low-income households or otherwise have trouble pulling together the money to attend. We'd like to help! This year, we are giving out five free badges (along with con shirts and priority seating in Main Events) to attendees who send us inspiring stories of what attending Kawa Kon in 2015 would mean to them. Anyone may enter, regardless of whether they've attended the convention in the past or not. To enter, please send a 75-150-word statement about what attending Kawa Kon would mean to you to kawakonstl@gmail.com by December 31 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Include your name, age, zip code, and a contact email. Winning statements may be published here or on our Facebook page.

Email Issues

We're working on some problems with our Kawakon.com email addresses, so until then, please send all inquiries, forms, and contest entries to kawakonstl@gmail.com. Thanks!

Hotel Booking Link and Tons of Event Updates

Book your room for just $87 a night by using the booking link on our Location Page. Booking a room helps support Kawa Kon and keeps you close to the action all weekend. Share with friends for an even better deal!

Our Events Page has been updated with a list of our confirmed main events (not panels yet) for 2015. We've got fun stuff in every track, and an outline schedule should be available by January.

Pre-registration - $30 until November 30!

Kawa Kon is just $30 for cosplayers until November 30. That $30 gets you into 9 rooms of panels and events and 2 gaming rooms all weekend. Buy your badge on our Registration Page today!

Panelist registration open!

If you've always wanted to present on your favorite topic at Kawa Kon, now is your chance to sign up. Check out the Panelists Page for more information on panelist registration. You can choose an idea from our list or submit your own.

Vendor registration open!

Artists and dealers interested in selling at Kawa Kon, please visit our Vendors Page to find out more about how to get a table. If you are part of a fan group, convention, or organization not selling anything but memberships, please email kawakonstl@gmail.com to find out about the limited number of free fan tables.

Kawa Kon to return to the Airport Marriott

We received both criticism and positive feedback on the past two years' locations. It seems the Marriott won in opinion polls over the Hyatt Downtown. Thank you to everyone who sent us messages, posted on Facebook, and talked to us in person. We'd love to move to a larger space sometime in the future, but at our current size, those hotels are our best options.

Marriott's room rates will remain the same for 2015, and you'll be able to reserve them starting in October. See you at the con!

The return of the Adults Only Track

Due to space issues created by moving the convention to a different hotel at the last minute in 2014, we had to cancel the Adults Only Track. This year we're bringing it back with late-night programming for 18+ attendees. It'll be private and guarded by security so you don't have to worry about your kids getting in.

Dates for 2015!

And so the sleeping Kawa Kon awakes! Thanks for bearing with us as we've worked to get dates and info for 2015. Kawa Kon Indie, our 7th Kawa Kon, will take place in St. Louis Missouri March 6-8. Our location will be announced soon, but until then you can start suggesting panel, event, and guest ideas on our Facebook page!

Plus Kawa Kon is introducing a schedule app this year. Pick the guests and panels you want to see, and don't worry about dragging a tattered paper schedule with you everywhere! And yes, if you want a paper schedule, we will have those available as well.

Kawa Kon Indie!

Our theme for 2015 will be "Indie". Put on your black glasses, and sip your organic coffee because we'll be bringing in independent creators of all sorts. Learn about promoting yourself on the internet, getting books published in the small press, and creating your own art. Along with the usual Kawa Kon fun and games, we'll include a lot of make-and-take workshops for art, crafts, writing, video production, and more!

New harrassment policies.

Due to incidents at other conventions, we are implementing an anti-sexual harrassment policy for 2014 and beyond. Sexual harrassment here is defined as unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexual contact, and intimidation to perform any sexual acts. Physical contact in the form of unwanted groping or molestation will result in the suspect's immediate removal from the convention area. Verbal harrassment that does not stop after a single "no" or negative response from a victim will also result in the suspect's immediate removal from the convention area. If the victim requests it, the police will be called. Mutual, consensual sexual contact between adults is not covered under this policy, but "mutual" means that all parties are involved in said consent. If the victim is underage, the police will be called.

Follow Us on Facebook!

Kawa Kon is on all of them! We already have some followers (how did you find us!?), and you can be one of them! Get all the updates you'd like by subscribing to our Tweets here, following us here, and liking us here.

An Easier-to-Remember Website: KKon.com!

Kawa Kon has yet ANOTHER new website to ad to the growing number of places you can go to get the same info as our homepage. Now all you have to remember is KKon.com! KKon.com will have the same information as kawakon.com, animestl.com, and animestlouis.com (we're keeping all of those, but we're just adding kkon.com to that). We're just doing it to make things easier on you when you're trying to remember how to spell "Kawa". :)