To round off our awards week, we are delighted to recognize JOHN GAUGHAN as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
This award acknowledges the exceptional commitment to magic by the dedicated efforts of an individual over a lifetime, and comes with a prize of $15,000 and an engraved iPad to commemorate the occasion—courtesy of the Slaight Family Foundation. Past recipients include, Johnny Thompson, Ton Onosaka, Max Maven, Dr. Edwin Dawes, Juan Tamariz and Jim Steinmeyer. We now add John Gaughan to this list of luminaries.
John Gaughan is an American inventor and artisan who has spent decades creating magic. Long known as one of magic’s best-kept secrets, his exceptional creativity and mechanical ingenuity have been seen and celebrated all around the world. This master craftsman is also credited by his esteemed peers as both discovering and solving many historical mysteries and reintroducing them to modern magicians. John’s natural curiosity to discover and to rebuild historical magical wonders has actually created a whole new level of scholarship in the history of the art.
A respected historian, collector, builder and inventor, John is also a generous teacher, supporter, friend and collaborator. He has spent a lifetime studying and elevating the boundaries of magic, redefining what is possible in the impossible.
We are thrilled to recognize John Gaughan as this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient.
Our special thanks to Kristin Newton, Jeff Chang, and Elizabeth and Richard Kaufman for their contributions toward creating this video clip.
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2021 ALLAN SLAIGHT AWARDS
Canadian Rising Star
International Rising Star
Sharing Secrets
Sharing Wonder
Lifetime Achievement
JOHN GAUGHAN
What a year!
We now conclude the seventh year of the Allan Slaight Awards.
And, wow, what a year it was. But, despite the challenges we all felt throughout this turbulent time, it was extremely heartening to see so much support and magic continue throughout our communities. Magicians rose to the occasion; there was a lot of sharing and spreading of joy during an uncertain time.
We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to the Slaight Family Foundation—especially to Allan Slaight and to his son Gary Slaight—for their exceptional commitment to recognizing magic as an art, and for celebrating it with these unique awards.
We also send out our congratulations, once again, to each of the 2021 Allan Slaight Award recipients. We were so pleased to highlight your exceptional work and contributions to magic.
And, as always, there is no magic without all of you! Thank you for joining us and for supporting our recipients. We are looking forward to sharing more magic with you next year with the Allan Slaight Awards—recognizing outstanding achievement in the pursuit of the impossible.
