Merlin Award

The International Magicians Society (IMS) is the world's largest magic society as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. The IMS began in 1968 and now has over 41,000 members worldwide. It was created to help promote and preserve the art of magic and provide a format where magicians could share their secrets and ideas.

The IMS named Siegfried & Roy as the Magicians of the Century in 2000 and named David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Harry Blackstone, Jr., Criss Angel and David Blaine as the most influential magicians of the past 25 years. The organization awards the Merlin Awards, every three years. "Every three years, the International Magicians Society hosts a banquet dinner, where those magicians who have achieved the highest level in their craft are awarded the coveted Merlin Award. The voting members begin with approximately one hundred names and narrows down to a handful. The criteria that the voting members consider are talent, showmanship, originality, skills, and above all the rare ability to entertain under any conditions."

The Merlin Award is given to magicians in recognition of their contributions to the performance and creation of magic around the world. While sometimes called the Academy Awards of magic, the Merlin Award lacks much of the oversight that enhance the credibility of awards in other industries.

The award was created by Tony Hassini and his International Magicians Society and is given out to invited guests at triennial banquets as well as in person by Hassini himself with greater frequency.

The award is intended to be a recognition for magicians who perform at the highest level of skills on national and international stages. Merlin award can be obtained in three ways.One is to attend Merlin Award banquet dinner on invitation, after being voted to receive the prize. Another is by participating and winning a Merlin Award competition organized by IMS and held in different countries. Third way is for the organizers to travel to the magician’s country to present the award there. The criteria considered are talent, showmanship, originality, skills, and an ability to entertain under any conditions.

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