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
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA
Lisa Baker
Satoru Suzuki
Frans Verstraten
Michael Cohen
Dawei Ba
Previous judges
2021 Judges
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA
Shlomit Yuval-Greenberg
Daniel Maarleveld
Michael Cheshire
Mark Mitton
Elias Garcia Pelegrin
2020 Judges
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, USA
Ryan Mruczek
Jeanette Andrews
Michael Cheshire
Heather Berlin
Jeff Mulligan
2019 Judges
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
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA
Eric Dittelman
Gianni Sarcone
Arthur Shapiro
Laura Thomas
2017 Judges
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA
Christine Veras
Peggy Gerardin
Wendy Suzuki
Gideon P Caplovitz
Joseph Dial
2016 Judges
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, USA
Allison Sekuler
Rosa Lafer-Sousa
Patrick Terry
Françoise Pétry
Devin Powell
Alexa Meade
2015 Judges
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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