AVN has created four new Awards categories for its January 2004 Awards Show. The new categories areBest Amateur Tape, Best Amateur Series, Best Marketing Website — Production Company and Best Retail Website.
In the late 1990s, AVN changed its Best Amateur Tape and Best Amateur Series Awards categories to Best Pro-Am or Amateur Tape and Best Pro-Am or Amateur Series. Starting with the 2004 Awards Show, amateur productions and pro-am productions will be divided into separate categories.
The new Best Amateur Tape and Best Amateur Series categories are for "completely amateur productions, with no professionals shooting them or performing in them," said AVN Publisher and Editor Tim Connelly.
Pro-Am productions, those amateur productions with professional directors or performers, will be recognized in the Best Pro-Am Tape and Best Pro-Am Series categories.
The Best Marketing Website — Production Company category is for free Websites "strictly devoted to marketing adult product," Connelly said. "Just informational Websites. If it's a pay site, it doesn't qualify. Neither do porn performers' sites." In additional to video and DVD production companies, Connelly said, novelty companies' marketing sites also qualify for the new category.
The Best Retail Website category is for non-pay sites that sell adult products. "Strictly for-sale adult sites," Connelly said, such as, for example, adultdvdexplorer.com.
A complete list of AVN Awards categories, including the four new ones, can be found at the bottom of this story.
On a related topic, Connelly again reminded all adult producers that to be considered for AVN Awards nominations this year, productions must be released by Sept. 30.
To be considered for a 2004 Awards Show nomination, a production must have been released between Oct. 1, 2002 and Sept. 30, 2003, Connelly said. The 21st annual AVN Awards show will be held Jan. 10, 2004 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
"The Sept. 30 cut-off date is only two months away," Connelly said, "so producers should plan on releasing tapes, films or DVDs they want considered for awards nominations on or before that date."
AVN Managing Editor Mike Ramone, meanwhile, reminded producers that Sept. 30 is also the deadline for them to provide AVN with their lists of tapes, scenes, performers, box covers and marketing campaigns they want to be considered for awards nominations.
Producers are also reminded to provide the magazine with two copies of each tape, DVD and/or scene they would like nominated. A list of the AVN Awards categories follows this article.
"Such lists are invaluable tools AVN uses to insure that the nominations process is as fair and all-encompassing as possible," Ramone said.
The lists, tapes and DVDs should be mailed or hand-delivered to:
Mike Ramone
Managing Editor
Adult Video News
9414 Eton Ave. Chatsworth, Ca. 91311
Attn: Awards Nomination
The lists also can be e-mailed to [email protected] or faxed to him at 818-718-5799.
Connelly said that like last year, producers can request that their comedies and foreign features be nominated in the Best Film and Best Video Feature categories. DVD producers, meanwhile, can pre-nom classic and all-sex DVDs for Best DVD. However, if those productions are not eventually nominated in the Best Film, Best Video Feature or Best DVD categories, producers cannot then request that they be nominated as Best Sex Comedy, Best Foreign Feature, Best Classic Release on DVD or Best All-Sex DVD, Ramone said.
Nominations for the 2004 Awards Show will be announced in November.
2004 AVN Award Categories:
(New categories boldfaced)
Best Film
Best Video Feature
Best Gonzo Tape
Best Gonzo Series
Best Sex Comedy
Best All-Sex Video
Best All-Sex Film
Best Continuing Video Series
Best Vignette Tape
Best Vignette Series
Best Anal-Themed Feature
Best Anal-Themed Series
Best All-Girl Feature
Best All-Girl Series
Best Ethnic-Themed Video
Best Ethnic-Themed Series
Best Oral-Themed Feature
Best Oral-Themed Series
Best Amateur Tape
Best Amateur Series
Best Pro-Am Tape
Best Pro-Am Series
Best Foreign Feature
Best Foreign Vignette Tape
Best Foreign Vignette Series
Best Alternative Video
Best New Starlet
Best Male Newcomer
Female Performer of the Year
Male Performer of the Year
Female Foreign Performer of the Year
Male Foreign Performer of the Year
Best Director — Film
Best Director — Video Best Director — Non Feature
Best Director — Foreign Release
Best DVD
Best Interactive DVD
Best Classic Release on DVD
Best DVD Extras
Best All-Sex DVD
Best DVD Menus
Best DVD Packaging
Best DVD Authoring
Best Actor — Film
Best Actor — Video
Best Actress — Film
Best Actress — Video
Best Supporting Actor — Film
Best Supporting Actor — Video
Best Supporting Actress — Film
Best Supporting Actress — Video
Best Non-Sex Performance — Film or Video
Best Tease Performance
Best Solo Sex Scene
Best Packaging
Best Box Cover Concept
Best All-Girl Sex Scene — Film
Best All-Girl Sex Scene — Video
Best Anal Sex Scene — Video
Best Anal Sex Scene — Film
Best Oral Sex Scene — Video
Best Oral Sex Scene — Film
Best Sex Scene Coupling — Film
Best Sex Scene Coupling — Video
Best Group Sex Scene — Film
Best Group Sex Scene — Video
Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production
Most Outrageous Sex Scene
Best Screenplay — Film
Best Screenplay — Video
Best Art Direction — Film
Best Art Direction — Video
Best Cinematography
Best Videography
Best Editing — Film
Best Editing — Video
Best Special Effects
Best Music
Best Specialty Tape — Big Bust
Best Specialty Tape — BDSM
Best Specialty Tape — Other Genre
Best Specialty Tape — Spanking
Best Specialty Tape — Foot Fetish
Best Transsexual Tape
Best Overall Marketing Campaign — Company Image
Best Overall Marketing Campaign — Individual Title or Series
Best Marketing Website — Production Company
Best Retail Website
Adult Video Nudes (Worst Tape of the Year)