About Participation
Competitors must be fully paid-up Members of The Magic Circle at both the closing date for entry and the date of the final. The competition is not open to Apprentices.
Winners from each category will perform live at the grand final. If not every category has sufficient entries, then more than one act for the above categories will be entered into the live final.
Entry closes at midnight on Saturdat August 31, 2024, via online submission.
All contestants, as a right of competition, agree to abide by and be bound by these Contest Rules and Procedures for The Magic Circle.
The first phase of the competition will be by video. The act performed in the live final must be the same act but changes and improvements can be made as long as the concept and theme are the same.
The application video does not need to be a professional video quality or performed in front of an audience.
About the Jury
To determine all prizes and other awards, a judging panel is composed.
The judging panel consists of six judges. One of the judges of the panel is the Chair.
All judges are chosen by the Competition Directors. There should be a diversity of age and cultural background, and all judges should be able to communicate in English.
Judges will be exempt from paying for the event final and will get free refreshments during their judging time.
The decisions of the judges are final and not subject to appeal.
About the Categories
a) The contest performances are open in the following categories:
Manipulation:
A magic stage act wholly or largely based on sleight of hand.
General Magic:
A magic stage act which is, in most cases, a mix of several of the other categories.
The props used are usually smaller than the ones used in a Stage Illusion act. Some performances using modern high-tech or video technology can also be categorized under this denomination.
Stage Illusions:
A magic stage act in which huge props are used (even when these are not visible to the audience).
Often several people are involved.
Comedy Magic:
A magic stage act of which the main purpose is to make people laugh. It can be based on any one of the aforementioned categories, provided the emphasis is laid on the magic nature of the performance.
Mental Magic:
Branch of magic comprising demonstrations of apparent extraordinary or supernatural mental powers, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, super memory, lightning calculation, and simulations of mediumistic phenomena.
Parlour Magic:
An act, midway between close-up and stage magic, meant to be performed for a group of people in a moderately sized room.
b) If the Judges are of the shared opinion that it would be in the best interests of a contestant to change his/her category, they are entitled to make such a change.
Judging Process for the Live Final
The Organizers are responsible for selecting all the judges for the competition.
About the Contestants and the Contest Performance
a) A contestant is responsible for his/her own performance. The Artist undertakes that they have secured the necessary rights to perform this full and complete contest performance, also known as their ‘act’.
b) The contestant’s undertaking includes the right to perform the act in question and encompasses the contestant securing all ancillary rights and licenses from all legally required third parties, if applicable.
c) The contestant will specifically undertake that they are entitled to exploit and grant sole license of the act and that the act does not infringe the rights of any third party.
d) In the event that the contestant is in breach of any of the aforementioned undertakings, they have to accept all the consequences and liabilities. If the contestant is in breach of the regulations concerning the Music Rights of his/her act, if necessary, the Organizing Committee has, after having communicated with the contestant, the exclusive right to either obtain the necessary performance and/or music rights at the expense of the contestant or to substitute the music in question.
e) A contestant must present a complete act (not a single trick,except for mentalism) of at least five minutes and not more than ten minutes.
f) A contestant can only present one act in one category.
g) A contestant who presents an act that is obviously a copy of the act, or a significant or typical part of it, of another performer, will be disqualified.
h) Spectators must be chosen by the performer from the audience present. Neither the competitor nor any associate may contact any lay audience member or magic judge before the competition regarding the performer’s act. Instant stooging, where an audience member is spontaneously encouraged to participate, is permitted.
If this is discovered The Jury can decide to disqualify the contestant. In case of doubt, the competitor will be asked to explain the method used and, if necessary, to repeat the effect in front of the judging panel.
i) A contestant must be ready to perform his/her act at least ten minutes before the scheduled time.
The jury may disqualify a contestant who is not ready by this ten-minute notice.
j) An act begins when the contestant enters the stage or when the music of the act starts, whichever comes first.
k) At the front of the stage will be a signal visible to competitors and judges that displays a yellow light after nine minutes of a performance. After the tenth minute, the signal will be switched to red, showing the contestant that he/she is over time and therefore disqualified. A contestant will also be disqualified in case of a flashing red light (see Article 8e).
l) When introducing a contestant, the Master of Ceremonies of the competition will refrain from any comment on the performer or the act, restricting the announcement to the name of the contestant and the category of performance.
About the Rights of Competition
a) By no later than September 22nd, the contestant will provide the Organizing Committee with a list of all music titles to be used in his/her act, including the title’s name, composer, adapter, recording artist, and the time of the soundtrack.
b) A contestant’s performance or act may be recorded and/or videotaped by or on behalf of The Magic Circle and broadcast and transmitted to monitors inside and outside or via the internet.
c) The contestant, as a right of competition, authorizes and allows The Magic Circle, without limitation to time and/or place, to use his/her image and/or voice and to edit and re-assemble a contestant’s recorded act or live on the internet as The Magic Circle deems appropriate.
d) Each competitor expressing the wish for it will receive, free of charge, for his/her personal use only, the filmed images of his/her performance. Commercial use without prior approval of The Magic Circle is prohibited.
About the Prizes and Other Awards
a) There will be a winner of each category, which will be judged from the video submissions and invited to the live final The Winner of each category will be chosen to appear at the live final at the Clapham Grand to compete for the title of The Magic Circle Stage Magician of The Year.
b) The title of an award can be used and awarded if an appearance is made at the live final, if somebody is unable to appear then somebody else may be asked to fill their place and receive the award.
About the Judging Process
a) The judging process is two-phased. In the first phase, the jury will judge all the contestants’ performances via the video submissions. The acts chosen to appear in the live final will be judged on the night of the event for the finalists to determine who is eligible for the prizes and awards.
b) A member of the jury shall give a fair judgment on the performance of every contestant, without prejudice, with an equal level of critical standards in regard to the following six aspects:
- Technical Skill/Handling
- Showmanship/Presentation
- Entertainment value
- Artistic Impression/Routining
- Originality
- Magic Atmosphere
c) In the first phase, each judge will give a total score of up to 100 points to each contestant. After each contest performance, the part of the judging form below the dotted line will be collected by a member of the staff as mentioned in Article 10a. Adding the scores of all judges and dividing the total by the number of judges, the final score will then be calculated. The maximum final score for a contestant will thus be 100 points.
d) At the conclusion of the judging, and having seen the performances of all the contestants, the individual judges may reconsider their judgments and, with approval, will be given the opportunity to change some of their scores. These changes will be given to the special staff members who will recalculate the final scores.
e) After all necessary calculations are complete, the judges will assemble in a meeting to determine who qualifies for the prizes.
About Titles
Only a first-prize winner is entitled to use the title of “The Magic Circle Stage Magician of The Year 2024”.
All finalists will be able to use their relevant title if awarded.
- The Magic Circle Champion of Manipulation 2024
- The Magic Circle Champion of General Magic 2024
- The Magic Circle Champion of Stage Illusion 2024
- The Magic Circle Champion of Comedy Magic 2024
- The Magic Circle Champion of Mental Magic 2024
- The Magic Circle Champion of Parlour Magic 2024
About the Administration
a) The organizing committee will appoint official timekeepers for the contests.
b) The organizing committee will provide the official trophies and the necessary judging forms.
c) Trophies for the various prizes have to be designed according to The Magic Circle specifications.
About Liability
A contestant will indemnify The Magic Circle in case of an intellectual property infringement claim by any third party
