Become a juror at Masters de Feu 2016 and win your tickets to Parc Astérix

For their very first edition, Masters de Feu wanted to place the audience at the heart of the competition. On 24 September 2016, at the Hippodrome de Compiègne, five spectators were invited to become jurors for an evening, alongside personalities gathered to decide between the competing pyrotechnicians. A rare opportunity: to watch a fireworks display not only with wonder, but also with the attention of a judge, assessing the artistic composition, musical precision, emotional impact and pyrotechnic richness of each show. To mark the occasion, the five drawn members of the public jury received two tickets for Parc Astérix.

The audience invited behind the scenes of the verdict

A fireworks competition is not simply a succession of luminous tableaux. Behind every bouquet, every silence, every rise in intensity, lies a craft of writing. Pyrotechnicians compose with music, colours, effect height, rhythm, surprise and breathing space. By opening part of the jury to spectators, Masters de Feu affirmed from the outset a strong conviction: the audience’s emotion matters, because it is at the heart of the pyrotechnic experience.

The principle was simple and spectacular at once. Anyone wishing to try their luck was invited to register on the evening of the event. At 9:15 pm, a draw was to select the five representatives of the general public. These jurors then joined the seven personalities asked to evaluate the performances. Their role was far from anecdotal: they fully took part in the assessment of the shows and in the selection of the Master d'Argent winner.

Five jurors drawn on the night of the competition

Becoming a juror at Masters de Feu means changing your place for the evening. The spectator no longer simply looks up at the sky: they observe, compare, listen and rank. They become attentive to the coherence of the show, the elegance of the transitions, the accuracy of the chosen effects, and the way music speaks with light. This perspective transforms the experience without diminishing its magic. On the contrary, it amplifies it, because it reveals the precision of an art often perceived only in its final brilliance.

The five public jurors had to score the three competing fireworks displays out of 20 points, according to four criteria. This framework gave each person a clear reading grid, designed to avoid mere instant infatuation. The aim was to distinguish a complete performance, capable of sustaining a theme, setting an atmosphere, surprising without losing its thread and creating lasting emotion. In an international competition, this method also ensures a form of fairness: every competitor is judged by the same standards.

Three countries competing for the Silver Master

The first edition of Masters de Feu brought together three nations in competition: Austria, Spain and Italy. In Compiègne, these fireworks houses came to defend their vision of pyrotechnic art around a shared theme, with the ambition of winning the Silver Master. This inaugural distinction held a strategic place in the competition format: it rewarded the best show of the year and paved the way for the major encounters to follow, up to the final destined to crown the Gold Master.

For the selected spectators, the responsibility was very real. Their vote helped separate professionals who arrived with their own style, visual culture and way of building emotion. An Italian, Austrian or Spanish display does not always tell the sky in the same way. Some favour power and scale, others choreographic finesse, colour density, rhythmic work or an intimate relationship with the soundtrack. The jury’s role was precisely to look beyond the first impression and assess the overall quality.

A score out of 20 to judge pyrotechnic art

The score out of 20 gave the competition immediate clarity. It allowed each juror to express their opinion while respecting shared criteria. In a discipline as sensory as fireworks, this framework is essential. A show may impress with its sound volume, but lack musicality. It may multiply rare effects without managing to build a narrative. Or, conversely, it may charm through restraint, balance and the ability to create a suspended moment. To judge here is therefore to learn to look differently.

Masters de Feu has always defended this double requirement: offering a great popular evening while showcasing the craft of the pyrotechnician in its utmost precision. The audience comes seeking wonder, but the competition reminds us that this wonder is the result of clockwork-like craftsmanship. Launches must be synchronised, heights controlled, colours balanced, sequences coherent, and climaxes carefully paced. At the scale of an hippodrome, before several thousand eyes, every detail matters.

Two tickets for Parc Astérix offered to the selected jurors

To thank the five drawn spectators, Masters de Feu planned to offer each of them two tickets for Parc Astérix. This gift extended the spirit of the evening: sharing a powerful, family-friendly, festive and memorable experience. It also added a playful dimension to the call for applications, without forgetting the essentials: the chance to take part from the inside in the jury’s decision at an unprecedented international competition in Compiègne.

This reward echoed the atmosphere of the event. Masters de Feu is not only for fireworks specialists. It speaks to families, live-performance enthusiasts, music lovers and curious minds who enjoy major popular events when they are carried by genuine artistic standards. By becoming a juror, a spectator stepped to the other side of emotion: they helped recognise a team’s work, the uniqueness of an artistic universe and the mastery of a craft.

Compiègne, the Oise’s new major fireworks event

24 September 2016 marked an important date for Compiègne and for the fireworks landscape of the Oise. Held at the Hippodrome de Compiègne, the first edition of Masters de Feu established a new international competition in a setting that is spacious, legible and ideal for large-scale night shows. The event brought together foreign pyrotechnicians, a mixed jury, personalities and an audience invited to take part in the celebration on the same evening.

With hindsight, this first edition laid the foundations of the Masters de Feu identity: a demanding competition, a direct relationship with the public, a showcase for the best international pyrotechnicians and an evening dramaturgy conceived as a true spectacle. Italy, represented by Parente Fireworks, won this inaugural edition with the 1st Silver Master Prize and the Public Prize, ahead of Fire Event for Austria and Pirotecnia Caballer for Spain.

An invitation to look at the sky with high standards

The call made in 2016 to future jurors perfectly sums up the spirit of Masters de Feu. It was not simply about attending a fireworks display, but about taking part in a collective adventure where the audience’s gaze became part of the final ranking. Being drawn, joining the jury, assigning a score, comparing three artistic proposals and leaving with two tickets for Parc Astérix: the experience had all the hallmarks of a privilege.

At Masters de Feu, the sky is a stage, the pyrotechnicians are creators and the audience is never merely a witness. From the very first edition, Compiègne gave everyone the chance to experience pyrotechnics differently: with eyes wide open, but also with listening, sensitivity and a sense of judgement. An elegant way to remind us that the most beautiful fireworks do not simply dazzle. They tell a story, they move us, they can be measured and, sometimes, they enter the history of a competition.