Some people in magic are actually defending the practice of fake awards.
Take, for example, the fact the Criss Angel now hypes himself as MAGICIAN OF THE CENTURY.
Sounds impressive doesn't it.
If someone had MAGICIAN OF THE CENTURY on their billboard, you'd most probably consider going to see their show. Especially if you were choosing between MAGICIAN OF THE CENTURY and MASTER MAGICIAN.
You would assume that this guy was so good, all the other magicians voted him BETTER than everyone else in the last hundred years!
You wouldn't assume that he would be calling himself that if it was just a title presented to him by a local club... like 'The Academy of Magicians, Greece'.
It's not a "fake award" as such but, on closer inspection, it's certainly not nearly as impressive as it sounds.
As people like comparing their awards to The Oscars, imagine if you heard a movie was 'Winner of ten Oscars'. You'd probably buy a ticket and pay to go see it. But then, when it turns out to be pretty weak, and you find out that the 'Oscars' it "won" were presented by a local film school the director grew up in, you'd be cheesed off, but hey, "Great promotion! They got your money!"
Imagine if you never found out the awards were fake. You'd assume 'The Oscars' was just a joke and you'd lose respect for them.
That's what happens when people book a magician based on his or her credentials. If the act lives up to the hype, great! But if an act promotes themselves as 'Magician of the Year' and they're only so-so, the award loses credibility, and the people think "If that was the best, no way do I want to see any others!"
Some say, if that's the case, it's the public's fault. They say most people realise it's all "hype" and don't believe it anyway. So why are more and more magicians using fake awards to promote themselves?
Because it works.
People believe them. If they are going to see someone, they want to see the best.
There's always been an element of "hype" in the way acts promote themselves, but over the last ten years it's really been sinking to an all time low.
Magicians were proud of their achievements. They worked hard to be able to put an award on their resume. Look at Lance Burton, for example.
But then, awards started getting handed out willy-nilly. If you could afford to pay the "out of pocket cost", you could join the ranks of the elite and have the same award as Copperfield, Siegfried & Roy and Penn & Teller... and if you didn't want to spend any money... just make one up!
A word of warning though, the press are starting to get savvy. When Steve Wyrick declared bankruptcy in June this year with $54 million of debt, the Las Vegas Sun started investigating into how this multi-award winning magician could go so bad... and Rick Lax took a closer look at his resume:
To the best of my knowledge, nobody ever questioned Wyrick's résumé until now.
According to one of Wyrick's old press releases, Wyrick "walked away with the top awards at both the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians annual competitions." The press release also said, "Once every four years the Olympian like Federal Congresso DeMagica' DeSpain is held for top magician from all around the world. Still 15, Steve took ninth place at this largest and most prestigious of all competitions!"
Let's start with the International Brotherhood of Magicians: Wyrick did win first place in their competition, but, according to a 1985 Linking Ring article, he won first place in the Junior Stage Magic category, not the main one. People who aren't serious magicians would assume the young Wyrick beat out men and women twice and three times his age.
Next, the Society of American Magicians: When participating in the SAM's competition, Wyrick did enter the adult category, but he didn't win. He took home the second-place "Award of Merit," not the first-place Chairperson's High Score award. So Wyrick got "top honors" in the SAM competition in the same sense that John McCain got "top honors" in the 2008 election.
And what about the Federal Congresso DeMagica' DeSpain — "the largest and most prestigious of all competitions"?
I've never heard of it.
I contacted two magic historians and one acclaimed Spanish magician to ask whether any of them had heard of it.
They said that they hadn't.
Remember, we're talking about what is ostensibly the largest and most prestigious of all competitions — and Wyrick mentioned it in not one, but two press releases.
If the "Federal Congresso deMagica DeSpain" is (or at one point was) the "largest and most prestigious" magic competition, I'd be able to find at least one mention of it on Google, right?
Well, I couldn't find even one.
In reality, the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (held every three years) is the largest and most prestigious magic competition, and the only award Wyrick truly deserves is one for résumé padding.
