Today started of with the highly anticipated Rocco One Man Show. Though scheduled and introduced as a one hour show, Rocco ran a tad over time and finished at 12 noon, when the Awards Ceremony was supposed to start.
Everyone was very excited to see Rocco, but as the show went on and the objects produced became more and more bizarre... people who weren't used to Rocco's unique style became visibly restless.
I had to leave after an hour to get in position for the awards show, so I have no idea how it finished.
However, THE AWARDS!
First, it was produced and presented extremely professionally with no nonsense, no long speeches, just presentations with plenty of time for celebrations afterwards.
It began with Eric Eswin explaining that one competitor (Juan Ordeix, though he was not named) had been eliminated for using a stooge in his act. The audience actually applauded this to show their approval. (They Jury spent hours on this one act. Juan was questioned and he explained his methods to them, but the methods explained didn't match what he did on the videotape. After extensive deliberation the jury was satisfied that he had broken the FISM 'no stooge' rule and unfortunately had to be disqualified).
Then the award winners were announced:
Invention:
- Jorge Luengo - Spain
Most Original Act:
- Charming Choi - Korea
Micro Magic
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... Vittorio Belloni - Italy
- 3rd place ... tie Simon Coronel - Australia and Johan Stahl - Sweden
Cards
- 1st place ... Shawn Farquhar - Canada
- 2nd place ... Kristian Nivala - Finland
- 3rd place ... Olmac - France
Parlour Magic
- 1st place ... Marc Oberon - UK (originally in Micro, recategorised by the Jury to Parlour)
- 2nd place ... Charlie Caper - Sweden
- 3rd place ... Latko - Argentina (originally in Micro, recategorised by the Jury to Parlour)
- Jorge Luengo - Spain
Most Original Act:
- Charming Choi - Korea
Micro Magic
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... Vittorio Belloni - Italy
- 3rd place ... tie Simon Coronel - Australia and Johan Stahl - Sweden
Cards
- 1st place ... Shawn Farquhar - Canada
- 2nd place ... Kristian Nivala - Finland
- 3rd place ... Olmac - France
Parlour Magic
- 1st place ... Marc Oberon - UK (originally in Micro, recategorised by the Jury to Parlour)
- 2nd place ... Charlie Caper - Sweden
- 3rd place ... Latko - Argentina (originally in Micro, recategorised by the Jury to Parlour)
Comedy Magic
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... Brynolf & Ljung - Sweden (originally in General Magic, recategorised by the Jury to Comedy)
- 3rd place ... Cheff Magic - Denmark
Mentalism
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... tie - Nicolai Friedrich - Germany - and Rob & Emiel - Netherlands
- 3rd place ... Tony Montana - Argentina
Stage Illusions
- 1st place ... Julius Frack - Germany
- 2nd place ... Magic Sky Group - China
- 3rd place ... not awarded
General Magic
- 1st place ... Soma - Hungary
- 2nd place ... Ma Yanyan - China
- 3rd place ... Siebensinn - Austria
Manipulation
- 1st place ... tie - Yo Kato - Japan - and Han Seol-Hui - Korea
- 2nd place ... Sebastian Nicolas - Germany
- 3rd place ... An Ha Lim - Korea
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... Brynolf & Ljung - Sweden (originally in General Magic, recategorised by the Jury to Comedy)
- 3rd place ... Cheff Magic - Denmark
Mentalism
- 1st place ... not awarded
- 2nd place ... tie - Nicolai Friedrich - Germany - and Rob & Emiel - Netherlands
- 3rd place ... Tony Montana - Argentina
Stage Illusions
- 1st place ... Julius Frack - Germany
- 2nd place ... Magic Sky Group - China
- 3rd place ... not awarded
General Magic
- 1st place ... Soma - Hungary
- 2nd place ... Ma Yanyan - China
- 3rd place ... Siebensinn - Austria
Manipulation
- 1st place ... tie - Yo Kato - Japan - and Han Seol-Hui - Korea
- 2nd place ... Sebastian Nicolas - Germany
- 3rd place ... An Ha Lim - Korea
