BALTIMORE COMIC CON 2026 Cosplay Contest Winners

From the official Baltimore Comic Con press release . . . . . .

Baltimore Comic-Con Announces 2026 Cosplay Contest Winners

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - October 3, 2026 - The Baltimore Comic-Con and Hard Rock Cafe Baltimore are happy to announce the winners of our 16th Annual Cosplay Contest. The contest took place on Saturday, September 26, 2026 for both amateur and professional adults, and Sunday, September 27, 2026 for kids. Visually stunning costumes ranged from comics and manga, video games, TV, and movies, and even music video characters, and our contest has proven to be one of the most anticipated events at the show, for cosplayers and fans alike. We were thrilled to welcome Hard Rock Cafe Baltimore back as our 2026 Cosplay Contest and Showcase sponsor, bringing an internationally recognized pop culture brand and destination in as a partner to one of the show's premiere events.

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This year's cosplay contest was split into novice, intermediate, and advanced contests, and a separate contest was held for kids as well.

The grand prize winner for Best in Show Costume, and the recipient of the $1,000 cash prize, was Jaden Hernandez-Romious as Din Djarin from The Mandalorian.

Special thanks go to everyone who entered the contest and showed their support, as well as to our sponsor, Hard Rock Cafe Baltimore!

Winners for this year's contest include:

Overall Best Costume (Best in Show): Jaden Hernandez-Romious, Din Djarin from The Mandalorian

Advanced:

1st Place: Jacks, "Finn the human" a.k.a. Finn Mertens from Adventure Time

Intermediate:

1st Place: Kat Ignatova, Sciel from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Runner-Up: Jennifer Frederick, Prince Peach from Super Mario

Novice:

1st Place - Empcosique (emp(owering)- cos(play)- eek (unique), The Comic Book Princess (original character)

Runner-Up: Adam Holthaus, Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Judges Awards:

Fslayer, Original design for the Real Ghostbusters cartoon

LunarHoney, Catra from She-Ra and the Princess of Power

Sara Humphries, Tokio from Choujin X

Kids:

Best in Show: luminosity, Howl from Howl's Moving Castle

1st Place, 12 and under: Jimmy B., Bonnie from Five Nights at Freddy's

1st Place, Ages 13 and up: Sylseamstress, Riliane Lucifen D'autriche (The Daughter of Evil) from Vocaloid

Runner-Up, 12 and under: Immy, Eevee from Pokemon

Runner-Up, 13 and up: Jason K., Halsin from Baldur's Gate

Judges Awards:

Benjamin H., The Mandalorian

Taro, Isha from Arcane

The Baltimore Comic-Con would like to thank our 2026 judges Alexandra Bowman, Sydney Fryer, Liz (SewGhostlycosplay) Scott, Joe (Grimm6) and Joeleen (Chaos Claire) Torres, and Niesha (SweetPea) Wongus.

We can't wait to start making announcements for next year's show, our 28th anniversary, which will be held the weekend of September 24-26, 2027! Be sure to follow us on our website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages, and follow us on YouTube, TikTok, Bluesky, and Snapchat.