The Masquerade

On Saturday in the Earth Hall – the headline of the Convention – The Masquerade, a beautiful show with qualifiers for Extreme Cosplay Gathering World Championship with the finals in Paris! Come and see, or better yet, come and compete!

The most important cosplay competition at Pyrkon with qualifiers for the Extreme Cosplay Gathering World Championships, with the finals in Paris! A colourful show full of lights, creativity and fantasy. The awarded persons will receive the title of “Cosplay Representation of Poland” and, at the expense of the organizer and with their support, will go to represent Poland during the finals of the Extreme Cosplay Gathering World Championship in Paris.

We are accepting your submissions until June 1, 2026 (Monday), 11:59 PM.

We accept groups of 1 to 4 people. Cosplayers participating in the competition should be of legal age and present on stage a self-made costume as similar as possible to the reference illustration (selected frame from a film or comic book, illustration, etc). The course of the event, step by step, can be found in the rules and regulations. The competition takes place in the late afternoon on Saturday at the Earth Hall in PCC.

What awaits the winners? Financial prizes of PLN 16,000 total!

• 1st place. Polish Cosplay Representatives at the Extreme Cosplay Gathering classification 2026, PLN 6,000.  It is one group or a soloist (1-4 people) who, at the expense of the organizer and with their support, will represent Poland during the finals of the European Cosplay Gathering in Paris (July 2026). They will receive a financial award in the amount of PLN
• 2nd place. Runner-up of the Polish Cosplay Representatives in the Extreme Cosplay Gathering classification 2026, PLN 4,000.  It is one group or a soloist (1-4 people) who, in the event of indisposition of the Polish Cosplay Representatives for European Cosplay Gathering 2026, at the expense of the organizer and with their support, will represent Poland during the finals of European Cosplay Gathering in Paris (July 2026). In addition, they will receive a financial award of PLN 4,000.
• Three equivalent Jury Awards of PLN 2,000 each, which will be awarded to outstanding cosplayers (groups or soloists) at the discretion of the judges. The jury may consider both the overall work of the cosplayer and a single element of this work to be worth rewarding (e.g. stage performance, use of a new creative technique, propmaking, above-average hairdressing and make-up work, representation of the character…). Each of the three jurors is entitled to a decisive vote on the award of one of the prizes.
•  All participants who perform on the stage during the 2025 Masquerade will receive a thank you in the form of a three-day pass for Pyrkon 2026.  

We encourage people with less experience to apply, but we require the persons applying to be of age and have Polish citizenship or a permanent residence card (due to the trip for the winners).

Masquerade Jury

Winners of Previous Masquerade Editions

If you’re curious who won the previous editions of the Masquerade, below we present the costumes of past winners. See for yourselves how stunning and vibrant these outfits are! Do you dream of joining the ranks of the winners and representing Poland at Europe’s most prestigious cosplay competition—the European Cosplay Gathering? Then go for it!

And if you’d like to see what the previous editions of the Masquerade looked like, we’ve got recordings for you below!