Sharing Secrets 2023

Sub-headline
DENIS BEHR
June 21, 2023

Today is all about sharing.

The next award from the Slaight Family Foundation is Sharing Secrets. It celebrates exceptionally creative and innovative work in the study of magic, and comes with a $10,000 prize and an engraved iPad to commemorate the occasion. In the past, we have honoured the achievements of Mike Caveney, Richard Kaufman, John Lovick, the College of Magic in South Africa, Juan Tamariz, Rafael Benatar, David Sandy, Lance Rich, Kayla Dresher and Lawrence Hass.

These individuals have used a range of interesting tools and methods to better reach and share with the magic community. It is a delight to add DENIS BEHR to this group of creators, and to recognize his outstanding work on creating and maintaining a free online database called the CONJURING ARCHIVE.

As our video explains, Denis’ devotion to magic scholarship and his respect for its history are the driving forces behind this unique database. You will see how Denis’ archive has become an essential tool for magicians looking to research magic, or for writers who wish to publish in it. And, you will learn more about Denis’ view on advancing magic scholarship and why it is so important to credit correctly.

It’s one thing to build a database, but quite another to maintain it. See how Denis puts equal attention into data integrity and manages thousands upon thousands of entries. (Spoiler alert: he thanks his small team of volunteers who assist him: Lorenz Schär, Harapan Ong and Yehuda Rauch.) 

Denis’ goal to build a robust reference resource and to grow magic scholarship is impressive and inspiring. He has created one of the best ways of sharing secrets.  


Acknowledgements

With special thanks to Stan Allen, Steven and Nikki Sokulski for their assistance in providing video content.

 

MORE TO COME

More sharing to tell you about tomorrow! On Thursday, we will reveal this year’s Sharing Wonder award recipient. It is an exciting category filled with creative personalities. Find out who this year’s top sharer of wonder is! 

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2023 ALLAN SLAIGHT AWARDS

Canadian Rising Star
ATSUSHI ONO
 

International Rising Star
NIKOLA ARKANE
 

Sharing Secrets
DENIS BEHR

 

 

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