'I would like to start entering magic competitions but don't know where to start. Will it help me become a magician? What's the best magic competition to win?' – David K

Magicians all over the world are taking part in magic competitions, both at their local magic clubs and also in national and international convention events. Just like any talent competition, contestants perform for a group of judges who decide the winners. The most popular magic competitions cover close up magic, childrens magic, and stage performance.

Where magic competitions take place.

Magic competitions tend to take place on a stage. Even close up magic competitions will be structured with an audience comprising mainly of fellow magicians and their partners. If you take part in a close up magic competition, it's important to note that the environment you will be competing in can be very different from that of a normal working area. You will need to invite spectators up to join you on stage to perform for them, or assume that the whole audience are your spectators. This can impact the types of magic you should choose to showcase and your presentation.

Winning a magic competition.

Judges watch each act and give points based on a wide range of criteria. Sleight of hand ability, presentation, stage craft, originality etc etc. Magic competitions have set time limits. Your act should be specifically rehearsed so that it fits in the time permitted. Ending too soon or running over time can work against your score.

Once all the competitors have performed,the juges meet and decide the winners.

Why it's good to win magic competitions.

If you win a magic competition it's great for your marketing. You hold the title as the winner until the next competition takes place. You can advertise your win, and feature it in your promotional material. Winning magic competitions will also bring you into the spotlight within the magic community and can help you gain respect amongst fellow magicians, and be a gateway to lecturing on magic, or releasing magic products.

How to start taking part in magic competitions.

The best place to start is your local magic club. If you are not already a member JOIN NOW. Local competitions are small and tend to have the same magicians entering each year. New talent is always welcome and it's a great way to learn about what does and doesn't work in magic competitions. As you gain experience, you can look to enter national competitions and expand your title collection.

The best magic competitions.

There are many competitions run by magic clubs and societies across the country. Some of the highest profile competitions run by:

The Magic Circle

The Magic Circle close up competition takes place each year. They also run a stage magic competition every other year. This is a very prestigious competition to win and the results are noticed by the whole magic community.

The Blackpool Magic Convention

The Blackpool Magic Convention runs both stage and close up competitions. These competitions attract the largest crowds as they take place at the worlds largest magic convention.

FISM (International Federation of Magic Societies)

The most respected magic competiton in the world takes place at FISM. Winning FISM lifts you into the world class catagory of competition winners.

IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians)

The IBM run a competition in the UK which is quite popular. Smaller than the competitions above, yet highly respected.

Should magicians compete in magic competitions?

Winning magic competitions has little to do with entertaining the public. The audience and judges are comprised of magicians that are reviewing the magic from a technical standpoint, whilst trying to view the magic in the eyes of the general public. That's no easy task, and some magicians that do well in competitions may not do so well performing magic to the public.

Winning competition titles can be good marketing and publicity. Being recognised for your abilities is highly rewarding, but it is not a full schooling in performing magic for the public. Some magicians can be very good at winning competitions yet fail to entertain audiences outside of magic. Magic competitions are run by magicians for magicians, so it's important that you don't focus all your time and attention in this direction.

Sometimes, results could be based more on club politics than ability. A competitor may be prefered simply because it is 'their turn to win', so don't be too disappointed if you enter a competition as an unknown and don't get a winning place right away.

Magic Conpetitions are fun and rewarding, but not a place to judge if your magic is suitable for paid performance. Unlike competition judges, audiences don't care about the method or seeing a new variation on an old technique. For the public, it's about how much they enjoyed the performance.

The magic shop just shipped its 100,000th order!

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

It's exciting day here at the magic shop. The Merchant of Magic just shipped our 100,000th order online.

It's a really great feeling to know that the magic shop has helped so many magicians build their magic acts and discover new tricks. I would like to say a huge thank you to all our customers for their support and friendship over the years. The team at the Merchant of Magic are all working magicians that live in breath performing magic. So every day we feel really lucky to be part of a team to reach out to so many other magicians that feel the same way.

I have a small confession to make.

I was planning to run a competition for the 100,000th order. I was going to make a really big thing about it, and hype up the fact that we were about to hit that milestone. We sat in a planning meeting to discuss ways to use that milestone to push more orders through the magic shop. But we all decided that that would not be fair for a very good reason:

We value, need, and respect every single order that we receive at the magic shop. From the budding new magicians that purchase just a deck of playing cards, the professional magicians that use our services to help adapt and expand their acts, right through to the TV magicians and studios that come to us to develop new magic tricks for the TV shows. Every single order allows us to keep our doors open, create content that can help new magicians starting out, and provide support and advice on how to use any of the magic which magicians order from us.

THANK YOU

Having said that, we do want to mark the occasion, and the reward the customer that placed 100,000th order. Congratulations to Richard Cant from Newark. We have refunded your complete order so you get it free of charge.

The Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year 2013

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

The Magic Circle Close Up magician 2013 - Billy Reid - Tim Shoesmith - Will Gray

The Magic Circle has announced that Tim Shoesmith is the 2013 Close up Magician of The Year.

Eight magicians took part in the competition, staged at The Magic Circle headquarters in London.

The magicians entertained members of the public whilst being filmed and broadcast to the Magic Circle theater for magicians to evaluated the contestants performance.

Magician Tim Shoesmith was awarded the first prize. He performed a torn and restored card magic trick, themed on Shakespeare. The presentation described his experience as a child playing the character Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Second place went to magician Billy Reid. Billy delighted the audience with very entertaining sponge magic tricks.

Third place was magician Will Gray. His Goldfish production went down very well. He performed a signed playing card, to a sealed deck magic trick that fooled many of the magicians.

How do you win the Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year?

The Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year competition isn’t just about the magic tricks the magicians perform. Many of the magic tricks are not original to the performers. There are versions of many of these tricks available through good magic shops. The tricks themselves only take a magician so far in the competition.

The winners need to prove that they can add their own unique spin to the magic tricks they perform to the public. They need to engage the audience, capture their attention and pull them in to the magic, so the spectators CARE about the magic they are being shown,

The magic tricks that work best in The Magic Circle Close Up Magician of The Year competition tell the audience something about the performer. The presentation of the magic tricks create a small story with a beginning, middle and an end, framed in such a way as to stand alone even when performed as part of a set.

The technical skills of the performer will only take them so far in the competition. Charisma, a professional style, and stage craft that has been adapted to table magic conditions is just as important.

What can the Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the Year Competition teach us?

Look at the magic tricks that you currently perform.

Have you thought about each magic trick fitting in as part of a larger set of tricks? It’s very easy to present each magic trick as an isolated event, without building a presentation that gives the magic trick meaning.

How could you create a background to the tricks, so they become a piece of theater?

How can you adapt them towards your own unique direction?

Do they communicate any of your personality, or are they generic and interchangeable?

Have you practiced how you will move around the spectators when you perform?

Are you working on how you engage the spectators, interact with them and how your appearance and behavior communicates to the audience?