CYBERSPACE—Zbuckz and WebMediaProz have announced that Alternadudes, its alt gay site, has received the 2021 Raven’s Eden Award for Best Niche/Fetish Website. The veteran site, which joined the Zbuckz affiliate program in 2020, features the types of guys often overlooked by mainstream porn companies: longhairs, skaters, surfers, goths, rockers, tatted freaks and grunge dudes.
The site is the brainchild of creator Koloff, who saw an unfulfilled niche in the gay web world and found the kind of models he wanted to see represented online to fill that niche. Koloff indicated that he is especially happy to receive an award where nominees and winners are all decided through public votes.
The Raven’s Eden Awards have been presented since 2012, and this year were announced in a gala online ceremony on March 21, hosted by J.D. Daniels and Brian Bonds. Each year, creators are nominated in 66 categories and the eventual winners are chosen exclusively through fan voting. Awards also include a Porn Hall of Fame, where nominees in performing and directing must have started in the industry 20 or more years ago and worked at least 10 years in it. The awards have no advertisers or corporate sponsors and recognize big established players as well as small, upcoming and cult favorites.
WebMediaProz/Zbuckz CEO Danny Zeeman commended Alternadudes and its recognition from Raven’s Eden. "For over 15 years, Alternadudes has long been an awesome underground ‘cult’ website that appealed to a certain segment of the porn fan community that has long been under-represented and served, but of course ignored and shunned by the ‘mainstream’ gay porn community. That's why we were so excited at the opportunity to re-develop and launch the website last year with a fresh and modern take on the design that better displayed all of the different types of ‘alt guys’ while keeping that edgy aesthetic that the longtime fans love. We are over the moon that both porn fans and the gay community alike are finally starting to pay attention, as 2020 saw the largest growth ever for the site. The award is proof positive that ‘normal guys’ don't always finish first!"
Director and site owner Koloff plans to keep growing Alternadudes according to his personal vision, and is glad that so many fans appreciate its unique direction.
"It's an honor to receive an award that's actually about what the fans like," Koloff remarked. "I thank Raven's Eden from the heart of my bottom and also the fans who voted to give us this award."
Alternadudes may be found at Alternadudes.com.