CONTEST 2024 WINNERS
Submissions for the Best Illusion of the Year Contest 2025 are now open! Submit your 1-minute illusion video by September 15, 2025.
For any queries, please contact Susana Martinez-Conde.
About the Contest
The Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest is a celebration of illusions and perception, created by the ingenuity of the world’s premier illusion creators. Illusions are perceptual experiences that do not match the physical reality.
How we see the outside world―our perception―is generated indirectly by brain mechanisms, and so all perception is illusory to some extent. The study of illusions is critical to how we understand sensory perception, and many ophthalmic and neurological diseases.
Last Year’s Finalists
Discover incredible illusions from past contests! Since 2005, the Best Illusion of the Year Contest has celebrated mind-bending visual and cognitive illusions, highlighting the creativity of artists, scientists, and enthusiasts worldwide. Explore our archives to experience the wonders of perception and creativity.
Top 10 finalists in the 2010 Contest
Top 10 finalists in the 2015 Contest
Call for Illusion Submissions
The Best Illusion of the Year Contest
Contestants are invited to submit 1-minute YouTube or mp4 videos featuring novel illusions (unpublished or published no earlier than 2023) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) and/or cognitive nature. Novel variants of known illusions are welcome.
Sponsors
We welcome sponsorship of the contest from interested parties. Donations will have a lasting impact on vision research and public knowledge of illusion-based research. Please contact Susana Martinez-Conde for details.
Exploring Visual Illusions and Perception
Watch illusions that show how visual perception works in the mind.
