Tonight marks the season finale of Syfy’s Face Off reality series, a competition of special effects make-up artists. The cable channel is happy enough with the TV show’s performance that it’s been renewed for a second season and casting will get underway soon.

Here’s the press release from Syfy:

SYFY RENEWS HIT COMPETITION SERIES FACE OFF FOR A SECOND SEASON
Season One Finale Airs Tonight, Wednesday, March 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy

NEW YORK – March 16, 2011 – Syfy announces that its breakout reality competition series Face Off will return for a second season of special effects competition, offering a new group of rising SFX make-up artists with the opportunity to showcase their imagination and creativity. The season one finale airs tonight, Wednesday, March 16 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, in which the final contestants face off in a fairytale challenge that will conclude with one being named the winner of the premiere season.

Dwight D. Smith and Michael Agbabian of Mission Control will return as executive producers for the second season of Face Off. Casting for trained and self-taught special effects make-up artists begins this month. Interested applicants can go to www.Syfy.com/faceoff to download the online application form.

“With strikingly intense personalities and creatively stunning challenges, Face Off has ignited viewers’ imaginations, making it Syfy’s best unscripted franchise launch ever,” said Mark Stern, President of Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head of Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. “We look forward to another exciting season showcasing some of the best special effects make-up talent in the country.”

In its premiere season, Face Off has earned critical acclaim and steady ratings in its first seven episodes, averaging a 1.1 HH Rating and 1.436 MM total viewers, including 900,000 P25-54 and 897,000 P18-49 viewers (note that this average includes 7-day DVR playback for episodes 1-5).

In tonight’s finale the final four contestants – Sam Cobb, Gage Hubbard, Conor McCullagh and Tate Steinsiek — face off in the final spotlight challenge in which they are assigned a classic fairy tale and must create their own twist on two characters inspired by the tale, and place them in a fully art directed scene. For the final judging, the fairy tale tableaus are put on display in a cocktail party setting, and the winner of Face Off is revealed. The winner will receive $100,000 in seed money to help encourage their SFX make-up career, along with a year’s supply of products from Alcone.

Face Off is a competition/elimination series exploring the world of special-effects make-up artists and the unlimited imagination that allows them to create amazing works of living art.

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 99 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)

What do you think? Do you like this Syfy series? Glad to hear it’s been renewed?

Image courtesy Syfy.