Latlely the Merlin award is being presented to some illusionist arround the arab and indian world , none of reciepients has really great achievments or show. so I was woundering could someone tell me , whats the real story behind the Merlin award . it makes me wounder how could be the same award given to DC and Lance , is being presented to some less than accebtable performances .can someone buy it , is it for sale? .it looks nice .and if so how much would it coast ?
thanx all .

The Merlin Award is paid for by the "winning" magician to be used as a promotional vehicle. Likely, DC & Lance didn't pay, but were given Merlins to help legitimize the enterprise.

According to IMS:

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.

Very good business for Mr Hassini...

First give it to world fameous magicians around the world. Then when the "merlin" brand is fameous enough, start selling the price for the amount of a first class ticket and some grand of money...

We who are professionals in Sweden thinks of it in different ways since an unfameous fulltime magician here in Sweden bought it, but for example Lennart Green got it in the right way.

I´m pretty against buying prices for advertising my business.

//Jimmy

It's a cool looking trophy though. Almost worth the $5000.00 I heard it typically costs.

Hey guys, not to necessarily try and stand up for the award ... but where is all the "proof" that it can be bought? Who's purchased one? How does one go about purchasing one? Lots of smack talk about this thing, but I'd like a bit more proof first.

...I suppose I care right now cause I was going to try to actually EARN one next year.

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Thanks for the link, noble1. It just looked like more examples of forum users complaining about the award. But I'd want to see some actual evidence, not more of the same.

To get on the Hollywood walk of fame, the actor or actress has to pay for the award as well. This is typical for none profit organizations. Just because the performer has to pay, does not mean they have not met the criteria for an award. Awards do not grow on trees, they cost money. The trophy shop wants paid in hard cash.

Matt, I not going to lose a friendship and ruin someone's paid for publicity so I can't name a name, but someone I now paid and got the award. If you need proof, contact Hassini yourself through his website, tell him you are one of Huntsville's finest magicians and find out what it would take to be awarded a Merlin, and report back here. Simple.

I can also give a name that I know have paid... But its up to him. I don´t want to name him here.

This is exactly as I understand it too. I'm quite sure folks have paid, but it doesn't mean they weren't deserving.

Ps - I WOULD be curious if you could just buy one, but I highly doubt any old guy could just buy one without having at least SOME merit.

Terry Evanswood won this trophy he is a great performer who was also featured in the I.M.B. linking ring. He talks about winning the Merlin award during his shows and what an honor it was. I asked him after the show about these rumors. Also I asked if he had to pay for the trophy and he said they are not for sale you have to earn them. Terry is a great man and I can tell you he wouldn’t lie.

I can also tell you Tony Hassini is a great man and he is close friends to David Copperfield, Rocco, Jeff McBride, Johnny Thompson, Kirby VanBurch, Melinda Saxe, Devlin, Greg Gleason, Dirk Losander, Ernesto Planas, Murray , Steve Cohen just to name a few. Many of these fine performers teach in his video courses which are filled with usable material. I am pretty sure Tony Hassini has more famous magician friends than anyone else on earth. So please don’t be so judgmental and harsh on someone you’ve never met

Also here is how you could win a Merlin award right from the I.M.S. website:

"I’m also asked how do we consider a nominee for the Merlin Award? A magician must send to the IMS World Headquarters a videotape or DVD of his complete act for our Board of Directors to consider. (No promo DVD’s or online videos are accepted.)

The other question I am asked is “Are there any costs to receive the Merlin Award?” First, I must say that the Merlin Award is not for sale at any cost.

Regarding the actual out-of-pocket cost, this varies from situation to situation.

There are three ways a magician can receive the Merlin Award. One is to attend our Merlin Award banquet dinner; this is by invitation only, after the recipient was voted to receive the Merlin Award.

Two is to participate and win a Merlin Award competition in different countries, which is organized by IMS with the event and convention organizers.

And three is for us to travel to the magician’s country and present the Merlin Award to them in their own country.

So let’s look at the cost of the first scenario, which is where the magician must obtain a visa from the American embassy to travel to the USA. He must purchase airline tickets, other travel related costs and fees, hotels, meals, and $500 US dollars per plate at the Merlin Award banquet dinner.

In the second scenario, again the magician must travel to the event where the Merlin Award competition is taking place. He pays all of the same travel expenses as mentioned in the first scenario and pays for the entrance fee to the convention or to the competition, whichever applies.

In the third scenario, where we have to travel from the USA to the magician’s country, either the magician or the magician’s producer pays for all of the travel expenses, hotels, meals, airlines, and other related expenses."

There is no dought that some of the best names in our craft if not all has woun a Merlin , in Hazini s attemp to create credebility for his award . but if you go over the the so many scatered Merlins arrounds , you'll find that there are some less than whelming acts that has woun the so called award . I wount mention names its clear if you go through the lists .how could this be compared in any way to Oscar, I m not against the concept of a trophy , but against how its being judged by one man , according to his own will. anyway Toni is lucky to find some people who are willing to pay his first class tickets ,five star hotels and acomidation and have a chance to visit some countries arround , I'm surre, had he asked DC or Lance or any respected magician to pay even a taxi he wouldnt recieve a nikle . and yes I know at least two people who had paid for the so called expences ..

But still, just because they pay their own expenses doesn't make the award any less "earned." Granted - there are only a handful of "world class" performers, but I think the point was to award HIGH class performers and not just the same 10 guys from year to year. So a person may have a great show and not be one of the top 10 and the Merlin helps him achieve a bit more notoriety in the magic community. Sure he will likely have some "issues" that need fixing on his show - but so do the top ten! We don't harp on them as much because they are farther removed from our "level" if you will. But it's easier to complain about folks who earn the award when they are at (or below) our performing level. This is partly due to the fact some of us don't see ourselves as top names (although I doubt there are many of us WITHOUT an ego...) and partly due to jealousy over other's success more than it is about the "pureness" of the Merlin award and its recipients. Wouldn't you agree?

One Award you need to pay for is a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hi Mat ...
- its fine if they pay for their own expanses , they do it at FISM , but in fact they are paying for someone elses expanses !!its like being bought indirectly .
- I agree that the point is about awarding high class performers an dnot the same 10 guys , it does happen at FISM and many other well judged competions in the US and other parts from the world .
- if you think that DC , lance and the other 10 guys have things to be fixed in their shows I really would like you to comment on that it would be very deep and helpfull for me and other as well .
- so a welthy less talented magician who can make Tony happy with first class tickets and acomidatioe might be able to get the Merlin while a more talented performer with less cash CANT !!isn t that the truth.
- gealousy is healthy and should stimulate hard work and ambition towards perfection and beter job and some respected hard earned awards .. I mean many of the Merlin buyers have never WOUN any other trophy isn't that a tell tell... ( put DC aside ).

I live in Asia and I see first hand, this "award" is scattered. I was taught that ignorant thoughts are best left unheard.