Alisha Klass \nVAN NUYS, CA - Without question one of the more controversial categories for the forthcoming Adult Video Awards is Best New Starlet. Face it, folks - no one is going to be entirely, unanimously satisfied no matter whom we pick in the end. But there are some reasonable criteria to which we hew in so choosing, says AVN vice president of editorial operations Gene Ross.
"A candidate is nominated on nominated on relatively the same criteria as your garden variety beauty contest winner - there's looks, poise, personality and charm to consider," says Ross. "Except, sexual performance, and a consistent, high level of it, is substituted for the evening gown and swimsuit categories."
Otherwise, Ross continues, the hot contest is the one which determines precisely how new is new, so to say. He says the candidates are nominated for the year in which they are most active in the adult industry - which factors in, he says, the point that the business features performers coming and going on whims.
"A female performer, theoretically, can come into the business at the beginning of this decade, appear in several features, leave the business, then re-emerge ten years later to give the business a second go-round," he observes. "Assuming all else is equal and she's one of those timeless beauties, that performer can be nominated for Best New Starlet."
And while there is no hard rule on how many videos she must appear in, Ross says, you assume she has done "a sufficient number" to make any firm impression on the business, "the most important criterion of all."
The AVN Adult Video Awards will be presented Jan. 8, 2000 at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas. For those either new to the business or with short memories, last year's Best New Starlet was Alisha Klass
