Cosplay Performance / ECG Qualifier

Cosplay Performance – ECG Qualifier

Do you enjoy being on stage and have you always wanted to wow the audience with your performance?

Is your cosplay incomplete unless you can put on an incredible performance in it? Or is performing just in your blood? Even so, do you want to make your costume as accurate as possible and spend months crafting it? Then this contest is perfect for you! Whether you’re performing solo or as part of a group, take the stage and join in!

This year, YuniCon (and Austria) will once again host a qualifier for the Extreme Cosplay Gathering (ECG) in Paris, the largest and most prestigious cosplay competition in Europe. And you have the chance to be there! The winners will get to fly to Paris for the finals. The date for the ECG finals in Paris will be announced at a later time. We’ll cover your travel expenses.

Important: Contest open to participants 18 years of age and older

If information is missing, a reminder will be sent out; if the third reminder is not answered within 2 days, the registration will be canceled.

Yunicon Rules:

In this competition, cosplay and performance are weighted equally. This means that both your performance and your costume each account for 50% of the overall score.
80% of the cosplay must be handmade.
Participants may appear in costumes depicting characters from anime, manga, comics, video games, movies, TV series, and J-Music. Only characters with an official reference are eligible for the finals; therefore, original creations and fan art are not permitted in this competition.
All performances are permitted, whether dance, monologue, dialog, etc.
Both groups (maximum of 3 people) and individual participants are welcome. For groups, all characters must be from the same source material. Please keep your performance appropriate for all ages—no depictions of violence or pornographic content. Please also make sure your costumes fit well, and wear shorts or safety pants to avoid wardrobe malfunctions.
If you need audio for your performance, you must submit the file in advance.
It is also not possible to set up microphones on stage.
So if your performance includes dialogue, it must be recorded in advance and submitted along with the rest of the performance. Only one audio file is allowed per performance, so please edit it accordingly.
It is also possible to submit a video file instead of an audio file. The video file must already contain audio (if required).
Accepted file formats: MP3, MP4
Winning the contest requires participation in the ECG. If participation is refused or is not desired, the victory will be revoked and the second-place finisher will take the winner’s spot.
If you would like to submit an audio file, please keep in mind that it must be trimmed in advance to match the length of your performance or the maximum length of 1 minute and 15 seconds (or 2 minutes and 30 seconds for groups). All common formats, such as mp3, flac, or m4a, with a maximum file size of 5MB, are accepted. Audio files that exceed the allowed length will be rejected along with your registration!
If you would like to submit a video file, it must also be trimmed to the allowed length of 1 minute 15 seconds or 2 minutes 30 seconds. Please make sure to include the audio in your video. Accepted file formats are mp4, mpg/mpeg, avi, or wmv. Please include a link in the note to a cloud storage service where the file can be downloaded, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. Make sure the file is set to public so that we can view it. Cloud shares that expire after a certain period of time—such as WeTransfer—are not permitted. If the file is not visible or exceeds the allowed length, it will be rejected along with your application!
Only ONE FILE (audio OR video) is allowed. If several files are provided, the application will be rejected!

The performance has a time limit:

Solo – 1 min 15 sec
Group 2m 30 sec
If you go over the time limit, points will be deducted accordingly

In general, participation is tied to your nationality. You may only participate if you are an Austrian citizen or hold a permanent residence permit in Austria. However, this means you will no longer be eligible to compete for your home country next year.
If the winners are unable to attend the finals, the runner-up will take their place to participate in the finals.
Costumes that have already placed in other competitions are ineligible to participate. The same applies to original creations (OCs).

Props:
For your performance, you may have up to 3 stage props on stage.
These are divided into 3 categories (one allowed per category): Heavy: maximum 20 kg; must be able to be carried onto and off the stage by two assistants within 15 seconds. Medium: Maximum 10 kg; must be able to be carried onto and off the stage by one helper within 15 seconds. Light: Maximum 3 kg; must be able to be carried onto and off the stage by the cosplayer within 15 seconds.
These props are different from your cosplay props (swords, pistols, etc.) and are not included in the costume evaluation. They are intended solely for your performance. A prop that is part of your cosplay will be evaluated during the preliminary judging.

Evaluation Criteria:
Costume: Accuracy (10), Craftsmanship (10), Complexity and Techniques (10)
Performance: Acting and staging (15), media quality and use of stage props (5), creativity and entertainment (10)

About the Rules for the Qualifier Finals

Prices:

1st Place: €200 + prizes from Cosplayshop + a trip to the grand finale at Japan Expo in Paris in 2027
2nd Place: €100 + prizes + from Cosplayshop
3rd Place: 50€ + prizes + from Cosplayshop

Registration:

To sign up, please fill out the form below!

Important: We need a portfolio in PDF format!
This should include:

The portfolio must be in English
min. 1 to max. 5 well detailed reference images
min. 15 WIPs (Work In Progress pictures, i.e. pictures of your work process)
A rough list of the materials used
A (brief) description of your work steps and your choice of materials
Picture of the 70-80% completed cosplay
The portfolio should not exceed 30 pages.
A reference image of the character (displayed on stage, max. 5 MB).

Important! Only registrations in this format will be accepted, so please follow the template!
IMPORTANT! The maximum file size is 5 MB; the maximum email size is 25 MB! If your video file is larger than that, please send us a WeTransfer link or similar in the notes. Submissions larger than 50 MB will not be accepted.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Sunday, and the prizes will be presented there or handed out afterward at the information booth. Prizes that are not claimed cannot be mailed to the winners after the convention.