It's the most wonderful time of the year~! Okay, not really. But it's pre-convention season here in New York, which means that planning is underway for the upcoming anime conventions in our area. On a related note, have you or a friend ever wished that you could do more than just sit in the audience of a panel at a convention? If the answer to that question is yes, then we have a chance you won't want to pass up!

SpringFestNY, the largest free anime convention in the NY Tri-State area, is looking for some amazing fans to host panels at their convention this upcoming March. "We want people who have never hosted a panel in their life to come and spread their passion to all of our friends at SpringFest", says PAS President Adam Edwards. If you're interested in hosting a panel, you can submit your idea via their panel registration form.

For those of you looking for something a little more passive, regular guest registration also started today! You can sign up on their eventbrite page. SpringFestNY has always had a special place for us here at leetNEET since it's the first convention that we ever covered. We'll be there this year too, so come on out and say hello!

For more information about SpringFestNY visit: http://springfestny.com/.

Spring has finally sprung (even if it's supposed to snow this weekend). That means more conventions are hiding around the corner. IF you've been dying for the chance to cosplay or just meet new people in general, why not give the Castle Point Anime Convention a try!

The Castle Point Anime Convention, usually referred to as CPAC, is an annual convention held every spring by the Stevens' Anime Club at Stevens Institute of Technology. CPAC is being held April 10, 2011 from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm and is just minutes away from New York City in Hoboken, NJ. Check out directions and a list of guests after the jump!

LOS ANGELES, Calif. ­ Calling all animators, directors and creators! With the intention to encourage new talent and to provide more visibility for new animation properties and talent, this summer's most anticipated FREE convention event, AM2 (July 1-3, 2011; Anaheim Convention Center) proudly announces its call for entries for the 1st Annual AM2 Animation Festival and Competition. Winners will be selected by the public and will be announced at the end of this year's event. Winners will also receive cash prizes as well as the pride of receiving the winning titles of Best U.S. Animated Short, Best International Animated Short, Best U.S. Animated Feature, Best International Animated Feature and Best of Show. More info, rules and attendee registration can be found at www.am2con.org.

With shorts and features from the U.S. and abroad, fans will be able to see many new animation titles (some which will be U.S. premieres) and vote for who they think should win! Members of the industry including members of the official entertainment guilds of Hollywood will also be in attendance searching for new talent, concepts and titles to bring to the U.S. audience Š you never know, you could have the next BIG THING and land a deal with a major studio developer!

It's that time of year again, school's starting to get boring, work's piling up, midterms left and right and then suddenly a light appears. Spring Break! What's a better way to kick off your spring break than with an anime convention? Spring Fest NY is an annual convention held by the Polytechnic Anime Society of the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. This year's Spring Fest will be held March 12, 2011 at 6 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Spring Fest, is a small but very special convention for us for many reasons. For one, NYU:Poly, is where I spend my time (learning) when I'm not watching anime, writing here or at work. Also Spring Fest is the first convention we ever covered. This year we'll be heading back for a whole lot of fun and we plan to try something new.

Spring Fest is one of those conventions that's perfect for first timers who are little intimidated of walking in to much larger convention. The fact that it's free is an added bonus!

This year's Spring Fest will be full of events. Its the first to feature an Artists Alley which was organized in part by a very cool guy. It also has a variety of musical guests lined up, including former MoeMiru! member Sneko, post-cyberpunk / 8 bit enthusiast NULLSLEEP and New York City band Yuki & Cuties.

If that's not enough to get you to come out on a Saturday, then how's this? Spring Fest is planning to have Cosplay Comedian Joe as a special guest.

See Spring Fest's website for directions, details and pre-registration. If you've been to SpringFest before, be sure to come again this year, the school's undergone a bit of renovation As for those you who haven't been come by anyway! We'll certainly be there, so come on out and say "hi" to us.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (February 16, 2011) ­ Have a sense of showmanship? A great personality? And an impressive crafting and performance creating ability? Come and participate or watch the best of the best as one pair will succeed in the US preliminaries, at this summer's most anticipated FREE convention AM2, to move on and compete on the world stage in Japan on television! More info, rules and attendee registration can be found at www.am2con.org or via the World Cosplay Summit official Facebook page.

Begun in 2003, the World Cosplay Summit was created, by TV Aichi and attracts over 15,000 fans to the finals in Japan, to promote international exchange through the Japanese youth culture of manga and anime. The championship is graded on the finish of the costume design and the teams performance on stage. Involving 15 different countries, previous year¹s Grand Champions were teams from Italy (2005, 2010), Brazil (2006, 2008), France (2007) and Japan (2009).

AM2 representative Chase Wang states, "It's all about pride and bragging rights as cosplayers will revel in the competition against the best of the best. We are honored to host the World Cosplay Summit at AM2. The U.S. has yet to win, let's do it this year! Join us and have the time of your life this Summer!"

Follow AM2 on Facebook. Follow AM2 on Twitter. Follow the WCS US on Twitter.

About AM2
Located in Anaheim, California ­ AM2, established in 2010, is a multi-day (3 days) 24 hour event with no general attendance/badge purchase requirement and is aspiring to be a key meeting place for fans that share a common interest in Asian music, Animation/Anime, and Comics/Manga. Nominal fees are charged for certain activities that attendees choose to participate in. AM2 will be held on July 1-3, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center in sunny Anaheim, California. More information can be found at www.am2con.org

If you are in the New York City area between October 8, 2010 & October 10, 2010 and are a lover of all things geeky, be sure to get yourself a ticket to New York Comic Con / Anime Festival! There is something there for everyone, so be a square and get a ticket for one of the days or a three day pass for the whole weekend.