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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'>Worldwide voting for the 14<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>th</span></sup> <span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/">Best Illusion of the Year Contest</a></span> starts at 10am EST on <b>Tuesday</b>, October 16<sup>th</sup>, and will remain open until the Top 3 Illusions of the Year are announced on Wednesday, October 18<sup>th</sup>. The 1<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>st</span></sup> place winner will receive $3,000, the 2<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>nd</span></sup> place winner $2,000, and the 3<sup><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>rd</span></sup> place winner $1,000.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The <a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/">Best Illusion of the Year Contest</a> is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection (that means YOU!) can <b><a href="http://illusionoftheyear.com/">vote</a> to pick the Top 3 Winners from the Top 10 Finalists.</b> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'>This year’s Contest coincides with the recent announcement that <span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="http://championsofillusionbook.com/">Champions of Illusion</a></span>, the book that showcases many of the illusions from the Contest and their creators, is <span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="https://www.sbfprize.org/blog/2018/9/21/longlist-for-young-adult-science-book-award-announced">longlisted for the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science</a></span>. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'>The Top 10 illusion creators competing in this Contest edition are: <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><o:p> </o:p></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=367 style='width:274.95pt;border-collapse:collapse'><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border-top:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Ben van Buren and Brian Scholl (USA)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Stuart Anstis and Patrick Cavanagh (USA)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Takahiro Kawabe (Japan)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Lourens van Dijk (Netherlands)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>David Phillips, Priscilla Heard and Christopher Tyler (UK)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Kokichi Sugihara (Japan)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Michael Pickard and Gurpreet Singh (UK)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=ES>Tama Kanematsu and Kowa Koida (Japan)<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Marco Bertamini and Andrew Irving (UK)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr><tr style='height:11.7pt'><td width=367 nowrap valign=bottom style='width:274.95pt;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;height:11.7pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Yi-Tsen Kuo and Philip Tseng (Taiwan)<o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white;vertical-align:baseline'>Their wonderful illusions, selected from dozens of entries from countries all around the world, will be publicly revealed at voting time. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society:<br>Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>--------------------------------------<br>Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Author, <a href="championsofillusionbook.com"><span style='color:blue'>Champions of Illusion</span></a> and <a href="http://www.sleightsofmind.com/"><span style='color:blue'>Sleights of Mind</span></a><br>Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology<br>State University of New York (SUNY)<br>Downstate Medical Center<br>450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn NY 11203, USA<br>Email: <a href="mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>smart@neuralcorrelate.com</span></a><br>Phone: <a href="tel:%2B1%20718-270-4520" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>+1 718-270-4520</span></a><br><a href="http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>