Anime Weekend Atlanta

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Anime Weekend Atlanta
Status	Active
Venue	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Country	United States
First held	1995
Organizer	Anime Weekend Atlanta LLC
Attendance	8,949 paid in 2006
Official website

Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) is an annual three-day anime convention held in the Atlanta, Georgia area, typically in the month of September. Since the first convention in 1995, Anime Weekend Atlanta has become one of the most attended anime conventions in the United States.^[1]

1 Programming
2 History
- 2.1 Event history
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Programming

Anime Weekend Atlanta holds many fan-driven events, such as contests for costumes, anime music videos, and video games. The convention also hosts several fan and industry panels, workshops, anime screenings, and vendors.

[edit] History

Anime Weekend Atlanta was formed mostly from members of a local anime club, called Anime X, which met monthly at various sites on the north side of the city.^{[citation needed]} First held in October of 1995 at Castlegate hotel, it drew a greater than expected attendance helping to prompt it to continue the next year.^{[citation needed]}

Events and initial guests were focused with more of a theme on fandom and fan community. Early guests were figures of the regional fan community and not necessarily figures in the anime and manga industry. This focus on more fan driven elements can still be seen in Anime Weekend Atlanta's event schedule, guest list, and general atmosphere to this day and it distinguishes itself from many other anime conventions which focus heavily on guests of the industry.^{[citation needed]}

Nearly every year, the convention moved to a different, usually larger, hotel with meeting space to accommodate growing attendance. In 1998, Anime Weekend Atlanta LLC was formed to head the business operations relating to the convention.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Event history

Dates	Location	Atten.	Guests
October 27–29, 1995	Castlegate Hotel & Conference Center Atlanta, Georgia		Ed Hill, Bruce Lewis, Bill Mayo, and Vaughan Simmons.^[2]
October 11–13, 1996	Holiday Inn Atlanta Airport North Atlanta, Georgia^[3]
November 14–16, 1997	Atlanta Marriott North Central Atlanta, Georgia	1,350	Amy Howard-Wilson.^[4]
October 9–11, 1998	Atlanta Marriott North Central Atlanta, Georgia	1,400	Amy Howard-Wilson.^[5]
October 8–10, 1999	Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place Duluth, Georgia	2,000	Tiffany Grant, Amy Howard-Wilson, Mari Iijima, and Brett Weaver.^[6]
October 6–8, 2000	Crowne Plaza-Atlanta Ravinia Dunwoody, Georgia	2,700	Steve Bennett, Michael Brady, Jessica Calvello, Tim Eldred, Peter Fernandez, Tiffany Grant, Ed Hill, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Bruce Lewis, Neil Nadelman, Corinne Orr, Lisa Ortiz, and Brett Weaver.^[7]
September 21–23, 2001	Sheraton Gateway Hotel Atlanta Airport College Park, Georgia	3,150	Jonathan Clements, Nickey Froberg, Tiffany Grant, Amy Howard-Wilson, and Brett Weaver.^[8]
September 27–29, 2002	Georgia International Convention Center Atlanta, Georgia		Steve Bennett, Tim Eldred, Nickey Froberg, Matt Greenfield, Amy Howard-Wilson, Bruce Lewis, Kelly Manison, Monica Rial, Jan Scott-Frazier, John Sirabella, Doug Smith, Kira Vincent-Davis, Brett Weaver, and David Williams.^[9]
September 26–28, 2003	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia	4,584	Steve Bennett, Jo Chen, Kelli Cousins,Robert DeJesus, Tim Eldred, Peter Fernandez, Nickey Froberg, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Allison Keith, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Fred Ladd, Bruce Lewis, Jason Martin, Neil Nadelman, Toshio Okada, Corinne Orr, Monica Rial, Jan Scott-Frazier, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Doug Smith, Kira Vincent-Davis, Brett Weaver, David Williams, and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.^[10]
September 24–26, 2004	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia	5,837	Christine Auten, Jonathan Clements, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Fred Gallagher, Lauren Goodnight, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Mari Iijima, Patrick Macias, Helen McCarthy, Vic Mignogna, Neil Nadelman, Fred Patten, Stephanie Sheh, Kari Wahlgren, David Williams, and Larissa Wolcott.^[11]
September 23–25, 2005	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia	7,505	Greg Ayres, Jessica Boone, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Tim Eldred, Lisa Furukawa, Lauren Goodnight, Ed Hill, Carl Gustav Horn, Yoko Ishida, Vic Mignogna, Neil Nadelman, Mariela Ortiz, Peelander-Z, Fred Perry, Stan Sakai, Select Start, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Mike Sinterniklaas, David Williams, and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.^[12]
September 22–24, 2006	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia	8,949	Masahiro Aizawa, Keitaro Arima, Luci Christian, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Lauren Goodnight, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Vic Mignogna, Neil Nadelman. Sasha Paysinger, Fred Perry, Monica Rial, Stephanie Sheh, Mike Sinterniklaas, TsuShiMaMiRe, David Williams, and Travis Willingham.^[13]
September 21–23, 2007	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia	10,200	Greg Ayres, The Captains, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, The Emeralds, Lauren Goodnight, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Noboru Ishiguro, Mike McFarland, Vic Mignogna, Neil Nadelman, Chris Patton, Peelander-Z, Monica Rial, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Barbara Staples, David Williams, and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.^[14]
September 19–21, 2008	Renaissance Waverly Hotel Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia		Emily DeJesus, Robert DeJesus, Peter Fernandez, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Howard-Wilson, Vic Mignogna, Neil Nadelman, Corinne Orr, Fred Perry, David Williams, and Travis Willingham.^[15]