Welcome to the Merlin Award website...
The International Magicians Society presents the Merlin Award to the highest achievers in the world of magic.
The Merlin Award is to magic what the Oscar is to film, the Emmy is to television, and the Tony is to theater.
The Merlin Award is 80% recognition award and 20% competition award.
We feel that having the Merlin Award as mostly a recognition award is the right course of action. After all, look at the Oscars. The voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decide who receives the Oscars. The same goes for the Emmys and the Tony Awards, as well as the Nobel Prize and so many other awards.
From time to time, we’ve organized magic competitions together with the IMS Presidents in different countries and presented the Merlin Award as a competition award.
Some of the world's greatest magicians have received the Merlin Award, as well as the Deans and Presidents of the world’s largest magic fraternities.
Below on this website, you will find names and photos of the Merlin Award recipients.
Question and Answers:
How does a magician receive the Merlin Award?
To qualify for the Merlin Award, the magician has to submit their performance video to the IMS Board of Directors. If they’re chosen to receive the Merlin Award, there are three options.
Option one: the magician can travel to Las Vegas, pay his own expenses (airlines and hotels, as well as other related costs), and receive the Merlin Award at the IMS Merlin Award Party.
Option two: if the magician wants the IMS Chairman/CEO, Mr. Tony Hassini, to travel to the magician’s country and present the Merlin Award to the magician at the magician’s show during his performance, then the magician or his management has to pay for Mr. Hassini’s travel and lodging expenses.
Option three: the magician, at his own expense, travels to countries where we organize Merlin Award competitions. The magician can then pay the entry fee for the competition, so that he can compete for the Merlin Award. And if he or she wins the competition, then they can go home with the Merlin Award.
The Merlin Award is presented to those magicians who have achieved the highest level in their craft, both on the national and international stage.
The criteria that the voting members consider are talent, showmanship, originality, skills, and above all the rare ability to entertain under any conditions.
The IMS reserves the right to change the award presentation dates at its discretion.
Merlin Award Recipients
When you click on any of these photos below, it will enlarge to full-screen format.
Merlin Award Recipients
David Copperfield
Harry Blackstone Jr.
Shimada
Sylvan
Johnny Thompson
Joe Labero
Juliana Chen
Sergey Tsymbalist
Don Wayne
Kevin James
Joseph Gabriel
Brett Daniels
Harry Lorayne
Darren Romeo
James Dimmare
Gary Darwin
Steve Wyrick
Rocco
Jeff McBride
Peter Reveen
Bernie Yuman
Deddy Corbuzier
Gregory Gleason
Shin Lim
Cyril Takayama
Chip Lowell
Steve Dacri
Mike Michaels
The Hamners
The Majestix
Nathan Burton
Gerry McCambridge
Keith Barry
Dixie Dooley
Nicholas Liotatis
Robin Channing
Antonio Casanova
Lee Alex
Bob Chua
Tim White
Scarlett
Cahyo
Tora
Oli
Raymond Iong
Richard Yuh
Fukai
Mamada
Bone Ho
Jeff Lee
Jorinn Chee
Vincent Tan
Louis Yan
Sir Lawrence Khong
Lady Priscilla Khong
Neophytos Charalambides
Stephane Vanel
Wilson Lai
Robert Sode
Dr. Victor
Douglas Lefrovich
Niels Duinker
Mahdi Moammer "Moudini"
Cosentino
Sergey Savka
Dr. Chandran
Mrs. Chandran
Alvin Terrence
Uriy Monchak
Sasa Gerber
Veronique Ross
Michael Late
Tombeck
Magic Hunt
Victor Choi Kit Fai
Chaow
Michele D'Auria
Tiziano Cellai
Dato Steven Harold Day
Christian Ford
Steve Wheeler
Victor Voitko
Dmitry Mosin
George Zakris
Madiyar Almas
Yuryi Sergienko
Anatoly Katanski
Vasily Rudenko
Guojing Hou
Huijing Hou
Jeni Xiujing Hou
Tristan Crist
David Thomas
Dylan Murray
Siegfried & Roy
Doug Henning
Andre Kole
Milt Larsen
Tabary
Sorcar
Franz Harary
Peter Marvey
Luis de Matos
Marshall Brodien
Stan Allen
Max Maven
Banachek
William MacIlhany
Joe Stevens
David Mendoza
Simon Lovell
Bill Malone
Kozak
Charles Reynolds
Stephen Zadrick
Gary Ouellet
Gay Blackstone
Mac King
Lu Chen
Melinda Saxe
Asi Wind
Rene Lavand
Mahka Tendo
The Fercos Brothers
Timothy Trust
Joshua Jay
Xavier Giro
Murray
Sos & Victora
Joaquin Ayala
Florian Zimmer
Will Tsai
Boris Wild
Jean Pierre Kraft
Paul Osborne
Jason Byrne
Sonny Fontana
Kirby VanBurch
Lyn Dillies
Ernesto Planas
Fairy Star
Antonio Restivo
Cris Castro
Brad Ross
Danny T
Jean Paul Olhaberry
Aref Ghafouri
Gino, The Magic Pharoah
Peter Valance
Rizuki
Eddy Au
Ilkay Ozdemir
Khan Showkat
Alexander One
Gelvinn Chee
Melkinn Chee
Raykinn Chee
Samala Venue
Samraj
Akshaya
Jen Kramer
John Caluwaert
Wail Al Hunaidi
Josh & Lea Knotts
Joseph Sheik
Peter Eggink
Tom Thomson
Palmas Nguyen
Nguyen Ngoc Minh Quang
Abdullateef Hamad Alsaleh
Magus
Raymond Iong Tat Chi
Walter Di Francesco
Martin Brock
Rudy Christl
Enigma
Alexandra Carolina Ledezma Bastidas
Kyle Marlett
Alexx Alexxander
Marco Miele
Belinsky Alexey Alekseevich
Chi-Ling Liu
Yan Zhuang
Taylor Reed
Felipe Biondi
Penn & Teller
Criss Angel
Channing Pollock
Paul Daniels
Jeff McBride
Kirby VanBurch
Jorgos
Jay Marshall
Kenneth Feld
Juan Mayoral
Ha Sung Chung
Tony Clark
Jonathan David Bass
Devlin
Tom Mullica
Tony Spina
Michael V. Lewis
Brett Leonard
Jimmy Kikuchi
Hans Klok
Dirk Losander
David & Dania
Jade
Eric Buss
Terry Evanswood
Jim Barber
Jan Rouven
Christian Farla
Ken Klosterman
John Taylor
Rob Lake
Ariann Black
Fielding West
Pat Fallon
Drake Deven
Stoil & Ekaterina
Selim Basarir
Sos Petrosyan Jr.
J.C. Sum
Magic Babe Ning
Kevin & Cindy Spencer
Allen Ravine
Throwdini
David Koenig
Tony Laffan
Tse Tow Joon Yeen
Liong Ket Foei
Leow Fee Loong
Ali Raj
Afzaal Afridi
David Gonzalez Flores
Hernan Gonzalez Flores
Doug Edwards
David Saxe
Torkova
Paul Draper
Ji Hye Jun
Hugo
Imagine
Fusion
Vlad Kryvonogov
Astor
Moustapha Berjaoui
J.C. Sum
Magic Babe Ning
Tommy Wind
Christian Diamond
Jack Monshouwer
Rheza Elfuego
Matt Hollywood
Subhash Bhaskar Dagadkhair
Pambudi Sunarsihanto
Nguyen Phuong
Vikneswaran Allagu
Huy Nguyen
Brian Role & Lola Palmer
David Gatti
Luca Volpe
Stefano Cavanna
Renato Cotini
Ben Blaque
Dato Seri Dr. Liew Lee
Ali Baba - Ngo Duc Duy
Vladimir Rundnev
Louis von Eckstein
Kai Udo Hildenbrand
David Ferrari
Garry Carson
Janine Carson
Daniel Craven
Eric Eaton
Brett Myers
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