The Academy of Magical Arts Show Room Awards are voted by members each year , and these went to :
CLOSE-UP MAGICIAN - Bill Goodwin PARLOUR MAGICIAN - Chris Capehart STAGE MAGICIAN - Arthur Trace
Penn and Teller received the Master Fellowship , and the night was capped with a speech on video feed by Teller where he talked about his partnership with Penn and in particular how knowledgeable Penn is with magic .
A very moving part of the evening was The In Memoriam video which said Aloho to magicians we have lost over the past year . The final tribute being to Milt Larsen , one of the founders of the Magic Castle . This was accompanied by Liberty Larsen , singing a beautiful version of the song Both Sides Now with the live band .
The evening was long , just over three hours , but the true test of the success comes from my son who has ADHD and was able to sit through the entire evening . It was a night that will live with us forever and my sincere thank you to everybody who made it happen .
After the awards show there was an after party held at The Magic Castle and a personal thank you to Erika Larsen from my son JP . He still talks about how cool Erika was to get him in and it made him feel so incredibly special . We hadn ' t planned on attending but we were so glad we did . Thank you , Erika , for your kindness towards us both .
SIDE NOTE : The next day there were two public shows , " The Magic Castle Live on Stage " featuring the artists from the Awards show plus performances by Kevin James and Jorge Blass . It was truly one of the best magic shows I ' ve ever seen . Kevin never ceases to amaze me , and he stood right next to me in the audience to perform his floating rose with a young girl from the audience . The emotion and reaction he gets reminded me of why I got in to magic in the first place .
Overall , the 2024 AMA Awards were a successful blend of tradition and innovation , drawing magic enthusiasts and new audiences alike , and setting the stage for future public engagements .
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