Magic Competitions. To COMPETE or NOT to COMPETE!

This article was inspired by a fellow magician, Kent Wong, who recently posted on the social media "What are your thoughts on magic competitions? 

I thought I would elaborate on this subject. Thanks for sharing Kent.  www.kentwongmagic.com

This is a touchy subject as well as political. So if I may. I would like to elaborate on this. I have been competing in magic competitions for several years now. I have won a few and lost a few. I have never won 1^st place yet, but that is my goal. I think magic competitions have pros and cons. I think the pros are that it helps you get your name and act out there. It gives you a tremendous opportunity to perform in front of a live audience. 

Being in a contest teaches you discipline how to work with a stage crew, lighting crew, sound crew as well as the stage managers. It teaches you how to work with other magicians. There are other magician’s competing. They are just as nervous and apprehensive as you. So why not take the opportunity to introduce yourself and meet a new friend? You might discover that they have similar tastes in magic as far as props and genres go. They might even have the same mentors. You can learn a lot about someone when you just take the time out to talk. 

Judging and Placing in a magic contest:

If you don't place in a magic competition or you didn't win 1st place. The judging notes can help as far as finding your strengths, weaknesses, what to take out, add in and if you talk in your act. You might even change the script.

I have been in some competitions where they didn't even have judging notes which to me is crazy because how can you improve?

Judges are a whole different story. Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you were not good. You can have a FISM act, but that doesn't matter. You are at the mercy of the judges and those judges have different personalities and tastes just like you. Some judges may also score high on creativity while others judge on skill or even audience participation. There are just way too many variables to go over here. If judging sheets are important. I would contact the person running the contest before entering. If improving your act is important. You will need the judging sheets so you can improve on your act if you don't place.

Trophies and Awards:

I have been in a few contests that have given out trophies, wands, cash or certificates. I highly believe that if you're going to run a contest . Do it right! Don't be cheap. At least award the winners with some sort of award. One magic competition I was in didn't even give a sheet of paper out to the winner. In fact even the president performed in the contest and won!

Contest Fees:

Some magic competitions charge to be in the contest. Most are registration fees if it's for a convention or gathering. I don't mind that so much, but when it's a magic club and they charge a fee for magicians that are competing. I think that is not right. Just my personal opinion.

The Cute Factor: 

Lets face it! Kids are cute! that is why many of them win in magic competitions. This is a touchy one here for me. If a Youth magician wins and it's not really granted. I don't blame the kid nor the parents. Heck if my kid did magic and I knew that he might have an advantage over others because of being cute. I would sign my son or daughter up as well. Why not! Might as well take advantage of it while they are young. Who do I blame? The people running the contest. I strongly believe that they should have two different categories. Youth and adult. That way at least it will be a little more fair. I think what happens in this situation where they mix adult with youth is that people, mainly judges don't want to hurt or crush the hearts or confidence of the future magicians and so they build them up by giving them a little more slack than the adults.

This is where it can get a little disheartening. I believe we should support the youth, the future of magic, but giving them a little break isn't the answer. If anything they should learn about losing and that you have to work hard and improve yourself, your magic, your act. Hurting and loosing builds character. Giving them a break when not granted can cause future problems. Such as giving them a false sense of being a good performer when they really need a lot of work.

It's also not fair for the adult performer who worked, sweated blood and tears on their act and don't place because a cute kid bumped them out. Not too long ago I was in a competition. I had received so many compliments. I was almost sure I placed, only to find out that a kid won, who keep in mind, made several mistakes. That wasn't coming from me, but people running the contest. In fact one of the magicians running the contest tapped all the contestants. He taped us so he could go back and make comments and suggestions and we would all meet individually and go over our act. I was shocked when the person running the contest told me that the parent of a youth magician competing actually called out "You missed something" He should of been disqualified right there!

Magician Judges VS Lay People:

This is a hard balancing act between the two. It's nice to have a magician judges because they are experienced with how magicians do slights and execute moves. A magician judge understands the amount of work that goes into skillful, technical magic. At the same time sometimes a magician judge can be too hard on skill and not open minded about other qualities such as creativity, costuming and other things.  A magician judge may be old school strict and have his/her mind set on who slights, skill and execution should look.

Lay People Judges:

Lay people on the other hand are usually not experienced with skills and techniques. A lay person will see everything just as an audience member attending will see. In a way there is also a lot to be said about "Lay Judges" There is a genuine to them. They get to see the magic and not the mechanical, skill or slight of hand side. And so if it looked good and you fooled them, you will probably get scored high.  The problem with "Lay Judges" is that they can't tell the difference between something that was highly skilled and took years to practice over something that does all the work for you and is mechanical.

Announcing who is the Winner:

This is the fun part which can sometimes cause anxiousness and anxiety. You just want to find out if you have won or not, but you have to wait for the scores to be tallied up. Some magic competitions use the magicians competing to their advantage. They might have the announcements in a dealer room so they can take an opportunity to make sales. Good for the dealer, but not so good for the magicians waiting. I had to wait in dealer rooms for an hour while the cash registers were smoking. If it was me running the contest. I would announce who the winner was at the end of the evening show. If they have an evening show. Otherwise add up the points as soon as you can and don't make the competitors wait. They already had a stressful day with setting up their act and performing.

What Does Winning A Magic Competition Do?

Plenty! first of all it gets your name out there. I can't tell you how many times I've competed in a contest and afterwards the other magicians competing wanted to friend me on the social media. Not to mention audience members who friend requested me as well. Now I got all that attention and friend request and I didn't even place. Now compound that with a magician that wins and EVERYBODY wants to be your friend. The more friends you have the more opportunity you have for other possible bookings.

You can also be asked to perform in the next years competition or the opportunity to perform in the evening show. Or maybe it will open doors to lectures, travel, or an agent might discover you and next thing you know you're on network TV.

In a nut shell. We all want to win in a magic contest, but we all don't win. There are some losers and there are some winners. And remember! Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you're a bad magician. Sometimes that's just the way it goes. Look at Dan Sperry. He didn't place and look how successful he's become.

The best attitude to have is just go in and have fun. Give it your all and if you don't place. Don't give up. Use the judges notes to help you. Listen to close friends that was in the audience watching your act. Learn as much as you can from the pros and keep trying and don't give up.

This is the world of MAGIC COMPETITIONS! 

-Imaginator-