AVN Awards

The AVN Awards is a porn awards show, hosted by AVN Magazine. It’s also known as the ‘Oscars of porn’. The annual show is meant to honor achievements in the adult industry.

The AVN Awards is the oldest porn awards show in the adult industry, with their first edition being in 1984. The show is being hosted by AVN (Adult Video News) Magazine in Las Vegas, Nevada. It originally started as a part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but quickly gained more and more popularity. Because of this, this awards show quickly became its own event. It was initially held in the Caesar’s Palace hotel. Their current location is the Hard Rock Hotel.

Nowadays, the so-called ‘Oscars of porn’ is a large event, spread over multiple days. The AVN Awards start early January, with Las Vegas still being their location. It all starts with the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AAE in short). This is a convention of four days, with a mix of events solely for people in the adult industry, and places where fans can ask for signatures, pictures and more.

AVN Awards show

The final day has the AVN Awards show as its conclusion. This show has two hosts, which are usually big names in the porn industry. Some of the former hosts are Alexis Texas, Riley Reid, Romi Rain and Mia Malkova.

The AVN Awards is around two hours long and currently has over 100 categories where people in porn can win a trophy, which looks like two people, strangled into each other’s arms.

There are a couple of categories that are considered to be the most prestigious ones. These are:

  • Female Performer of the Year
  • Male Performer of the Year
  • Best New Starlet
  • Best Male Newcomer
  • Best Actor
  • Best Actress
  • Movie of the Year (or Best Featurette)
  • Best Director

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Dani Daniels AVN Awards 2015
Dani Daniels with her five 2015 AVN Awards (Source: Twitter Dani Daniels)

Voting and Fan awards

According to a 2016 Mic article, there’s a group of a little over twenty people who get to vote. A small portion of those voters is part of the AVN editorial staff.

Fans also have a voice when it comes to voting. Since 2011, there are also Fan Awards. This started with only four categories, but there are currently a little over a dozen. Some of the major categories are Favorite Female Pornstar, Most Epic Ass, Most Spectacular Boobs, Hottest MILF and Hottest Newcomer.

AVN Awards: the Hall of Fame

Every year, a select number of people in the adult industry get inducted in the AVN Hall of Fame. This is a special place to honor people who, according to AVN, “have made significant contributions to the adult industry”. You can only become a member if you’ve been in the adult industry for at least ten years.

Watch the AVN Awards

People in the United States can watch the AVN Awards on tv as well. Showtime has broadcasted the show since 2008, with the exception of 2021 and 2022. Those shows were hosted online by MyFreeCams, because of Covid.

Archives and Female Performer of the Year

The website of the AVN Awards is a place where you won’t find a lot of information in terms of history and former winners. You can only see the winners of the previous year (without any mention of other nominees). The only other pages are about the hotel and buying your tickets. However, Wikipedia does have pages about each year, so that’s your best place to be if you want to find out about all past winners and nominees.

For fans, the most important category is Female Performer of the Year. You can check out the full list of all winners since the inception of this category (in 1993) down below.

YearWinnerYearWinner
1993Ashlyn Gere2009Jenna Haze
1994Debi Diamond2010Tori Black
1995Asia Carrera2011Tori Black
1996Kaitlyn Ashley2012Bobbi Starr
1997Missy2013Asa Akira
1998Stephanie Swift2014Bonnie Rotten
1999Chloe2015Anikka Albrite
2000Inari Vachs2016Riley Reid
2001Jewel De’Nyle2017Adriana Chechik
2002Nikita Denise2018Angela White
2003Aurora Snow2019Angela White
2004Ashley Blue2020Angela White
2005Lauren Phoenix2021Emily Willis
2006Audrey Hollander2022Gianna Dior
2007Hillary Scott2023Kira Noir
2008Sasha Grey