Judges

The contest consists of three stages: submission, initial review, gala presentation and election of winners. The initial review is done by a panel of impartial judges, who narrow the submissions down to the Top Ten best entries. The Top Ten finalists present their illusions at the gala celebration. The attendees of the gala vote to choose the First, Second, and Third prize winners.

2023 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA

Lisa Baker

Satoru Suzuki

Frans Verstraten

Michael Cohen

Dawei Ba



Previous judges

2021 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA

Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg

Daniel Maarleveld

Michael Cheshire

Mark Mitton

Elias Garcia Pelegrin

2020 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA

Ryan Mruczek

Jeanette Andrews

Michael Cheshire

Heather Berlin

Jeff Mulligan

2019 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA

Michael Bach
University of Freiburg, Germany

Priscilla Heard
University of the West of England Bristol, UK
Bei Xiao
American University, USA

Amory Danek
Heidelberg University, Germany

2018 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA

Eric Dittelman

Gianni Sarcone

Arthur Shapiro

Laura Thomas

 

2017 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA

Christine Veras

Peggy Gerardin

Wendy Suzuki

Gideon P Caplovitz

Joseph Dial

2016 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA

Allison Sekuler

Rosa Lafer-Sousa

Patrick Terry 

Françoise Pétry

Devin Powell

Alexa Meade

2015 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Thérèse Collins
Université Paris Descartes, France

Ava Do
Red Handed Media Inc., USA

Masashi Nakatani
University of Tokyo, Japan

Kimberly Orsten
Rice University, USA

Virginie van Wassenhove
INSERM, France

Qasim Zaidi
SUNY Optometry, USA

2014 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Arash Afraz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Mahzarin Banaji
Harvard University, USA

Jorge Otero-Millan
Johns Hopkins University, USA

Michael Paradiso
Brown University, USA

Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives
Idibaps, Spain

2013 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Olivia Carter
The University of Melbourne, Australia

Yuhong Jiang
University of Minnesota, USA

Roger Newport
The University of Nottingham, UK

Victoria Skye
Atlanta, GA, USA

Christopher Tyler
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA

2012 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Anthony Barnhart
Arizona State University, USA

Po-Jang (Brown) Hsieh
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore

Ming Meng
Dartmouth College, USA

Mark Wexler
Université Paris V, France

Jordan W. Suchow
Harvard University, USA

Doris Tsao
Caltech, USA

2011 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Paul Doherty
San Francisco Exploratorium, USA

Alan Gilchrist
Rutgers University, USA

Simone Gori
University of Padova, Italy

Jan Kremlacek
Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Xoana G. Troncoso
Caltech, USA

2010 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Yuval Barkan
Tel-Aviv University, Israel

Maria Concetta Morrone
University of Pisa, Italy

Richard Russell
Harvard University, USAMark Setteducati
Magician, New York City

Arthur Shapiro
American University, USA

Lothar Spillmann
University of Freiburg, Germany

2009 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Rob Jenkins
University of Glasgow, UK

Rob van Lier
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Eric Mead
Aspen, CO, USA

Thomas Papathomas
Rutgers University, USA

Michael Pickard
Sunderland University, UK

2008 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Michael Bach
University of Freiburg, Germany

Pietro Guardini
University of Padova, Italy

Frederick Kingdom
McGill University, Canada

Margaret Livingstone
Harvard Medical School, USA

Peter Thompson
University of York , UK

Niko Troje
Queen’s Unversity, Canada

2007 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Gideon Caplovitz
Dartmouth College, USA

Max Dürsteler
Universitätsspital Zürich, Switzerland

Akiyoshi Kitaoka
Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Beau Lotto
University College London, UK

Denis Pelli
New York University, USA

Nava Rubin
New York University, USA

Gianni Sarcone
Archimedes’ Lab TM, Italy

Preeti Verghese
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA

2006 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

George Mather
Sussex University, UK

Suzanne McKee
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, USA

Dale Purves
Duke University, USA

Arthur Shapiro
Bucknell University, USA

Dejan Todorović
University of Belgrade, Serbia

Jonathan Winawer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

2005 Judges

Stephen Macknik (Moderator)
Barrow Neurological Institute, USA

Paola Bressan
Universita di Padova Via Venezia, Italy

Richard Brown
San Francisco Exploratorium, USA

Patrick Cavanagh
Harvard University, USA

David Eagleman
University of Texas, Houston Medical School, USA

Marcos Pérez
Casa de Las Ciencias, A Coruña, Spain

Al Seckel
California Institute of Technology, USA

Adrienne Seiffert
Vanderbilt University, USA

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