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April 23, 2006. The 2006 Elliott Card Champion is Wes Booth. Congratulations, Wes!
Wes Booth has won the prestigious
Dr. James William Elliott Card Challenge, a contest of skill at card magic. The competition was held
at the Sebasticook Valley Community Center in Newport on Sunday, April 23. Also competing were three other members of Ring 362, Brother Don,
Conjuring Carroll, and the Territorial Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Bob Nixon.
The rules of the
Elliott Card Challenge are indeed challenging. Each contestant is given a new deck of playing cards still sealed in the
cellophane wrapper. The decks are chosen by a contest offical to be uncommon, with unusual designs on the backs and faces, to foil attempts at
introducing extra cards. Contestants have ten minutes to perform any kind of card magic. At the end of the performance, the cards are collected
for examination. If there is any evidence that cards have been added or that the cards have been altered in any way, the contestant is disqualified.
Wes Booth won the competition with a classic card manipulation act, spreading the deck into beautiful fans. He changed the faces of the cards
by passing his hand over them, made the cards appear to shrink, and made them appear to have blank faces. He caused cards to vanish by tossing
them into the air, then pulled fans of cards from the empty air. Wes Booth won the contest by a vote of his peers, who admired his skill at performing
magic of this kind with new cards; normally, the act requires slightly worn cards that have been powdered.
Wes Booth is the 2006 Vice President of Ring 362, and appeared in the
All-Star Magical Revue at the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor on the Fourth of July, 2006.
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April 2, 2006.
Markus Almodarr Steelgrave, winner of first place in the Stage Competition in the New England Magic Contest for 2004 and 2005, was asked
to give other magicians a chance this year. He obliged, and took first place in Close-Up in the 2006 New England Magic Contest in Clinton, Massachusetts. Congratulations, Markus!
