LOS ANGELES—Arriving earlier than in previous years and with a lot more fanfare, the announcement of the 2015 AVN Awards nominees took place on the evening of November 20 at a gala party at Lure nightclub in Hollywood. This marked the first time that AVN Media Network has announced its nominees at a public event.
Members of the adult entertainment community assembled at the club for an on-stage announcement of some of the biggest categories, and then attendees were given a full list of the nominees as they left the club.
“This year we wanted to do something different to mark the announcement of the nominations,” said AVN Media Network CEO Theo Sapoutzis. “Also, a gala party in Hollywood where we could toast the nominees seemed like a festive way to kick off the holiday season.”
Recognizing achievements that range across the industry's four main sectors—video production, online enterprises, retail outlets and pleasure product manufacturers—these nominations honor the best work created in virtually every facet of the adult sphere over the past 12 months. The AVN Awards nominating committee spent a month and a half sifting through pre-nominations submitted by industry members to compile the list.
And the process is indeed a team effort. Individual members screen all submitted material to come up with the strongest contenders in each category, and then the committee votes on the final nominees.
“It’s an exhausting process,” said AVN Editor-in-Chief Sharan Street. “Our committee members are strongly committed to the process, and we all consider it a privilege to participate in this endeavor to applaud the best work created by our colleagues in this industry. These talented individuals don’t get the recognition they deserve from the mainstream entertainment community.”
Added AVN Senior Editor Peter Warren, “I could not be more proud of the work our incredibly passionate team put into this mighty task over the past six weeks. On behalf of them all, I offer the heartiest congratulations to everybody who received a nod for their own exceptional work this year.”
AVN streamlined the categories for the 2015 AVN Awards with the aim of making it easier for studios, directors and performers to find the correct ways in which to nominate their work. Some redundancies were eliminated and categories that were too similar were in some cases merged together to create a tight list of 108 categories. The nominees in each category are selected to represent a range of companies producing various styles of adult entertainment, from glossy to gritty.
And there’s also something brand-new added to the list: a surprise category that was not revealed during the pre-nomination process. That category—Best Taboo Relations Movie—was created to honor the lively array of titles released this year that explore forbidden relationships between step-families. In addition to titles from veteran explorers of these themes (Devil’s Film’s Mother & Daughter Cocksucking Contest 3, Lethal Hardcore’s Fuck My Mom & Me 20 and Girlfriends Films’ Mother-Daughter Exchange Club 32, namely) are a number of titles from directors who are relatively new to the field: notably, Jodi and Jay West of Forbidden Fruits Films and Jacky St. James of New Sensations/Digital Sin.
The full list of nominees can be found on AVNAwards.com. Popporn has signed on as the exclusive retail sponsor of the AVN Awards, and AVN Award-nominated titles are available at Popporn.com.
This year's inductees into the AVN Hall of Fame will be announced separately in the near future.
The AVN Awards Show is the grand finale of AVN Week, a series of events produced by AVN Media Network at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, which includes Internext, the AVN Novelty Expo and the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. Fans may purchase general admission tickets, VIP table seating options, or one of these special packages:
The Golden Ticket Pass includes a VIP Ticket in a luxury box suite, three drink tickets, entry into the official AVN Awards After Party, and an Extreme VIP Pass to the AVN Expo for Saturday, January 24.
The VIP Backstage Pass includes access to the VIP Suite, a backstage tour, access to the Official AVN Awards Red Capet and show rehearsal, a premium swag bag, a chance to meet the hosts, a table at the official AVN Awards After Party, five drink tickets, and an Extreme VIP Pass to the AVN Expo for Saturday, January 24.
Adult industry tables for the award show are also on sale. Industry can purchase tickets by emailing [email protected].
For more information about the 2015 AVN Awards, visit AVNAwards.com.
