The International Magicians Society named Marco Tempest, New York’s favorite Virtual Magician, for its prestigious Merlin Award 2010 in the category of Best Contemporary Magician. IMS founder Tony Hassini presented the award to Tempest in a special ceremony held on Times Square.

The Merlin Award is to magic what the Oscar is to the movies. In winning the Merlin Awards, Tempest joins a prestigious group, including Harry Blackstone, Doug Henning, Channing Pollack, Siegfried & Roy, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield and Criss Angel.

More on the IMS Merlin Award: The International Magicians Society was founded in 1968 with the fundamental purpose of promoting and preserving the art of magic. The IMS helps to create new magicians, passing the torch to the next generation of magicians. The IMS has over 37’000 members worldwide.

Every three years, the International Magicians Society hosts a banquet dinner, where those magicians who have achieved the highest level in their craft are awarded the coveted Merlin Award.

The voting members begin with approximately one hundred names and narrows down to a handful. The criteria that the voting members consider are talent, showmanship, originality, skills, and above all the rare ability to entertain under any conditions.