It perhaps speaks volumes as to how removed we currently are from the porn industry that this year’s AVN Awards – the industry Oscars, as they are so often called – consists mainly of awards going to people, films and organisations that we haven’t heard of. Time waits for no man, I suppose.
Anyway, among the numerous awards that reach into such niche levels as Most Spectacular Boobs (a Fan Award, won by Angela White who also scooped Favourite Female Porn Star from the fans) and Best Lewd Propositions Movie (The Psychiatrist), a few stand out as worthy as mention from last night’s ceremony in Las Vegas, hosted by Romi Rain and Bailey Rayne, with comedian and Esther Ku and a performance from Cardi B. How important any of this is in the grand scheme of things is debatable, but everyone (well, everyone except us) likes to win awards, even if it for Most Awesome Ass.
The big winner in the feature film category (the ‘shot on film’ award is a thing of distant memory, of course) is Axel Braun‘s The Possession of Mrs Hyde, which won Best Action/Thriller, Best Director – Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene (Avi Love and Ramon Nomar). Braun also saw his Deadpool XXX pick up awards for Best Actor (Seth Gamble), Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Best Parody. It’s good to know that actual films are still a thing in the adult industry, even if the glory days are long over in an age of tube sites and instant gratification.
Elsewhere, Jules Jordan’s After Dark grabbed a bunch of awards including Best Drama, Ivy Wolfe was voted Best New Starlet and Rocco Siffredi won the ‘foreign’ categories for Best Male Performer and Best Director. Most Outrageous Sex Scene went to The Puppet Inside Me (you can watch this Woodrocket film for free here) and rather predictably, Stormy Daniels scooped Mainstream Star of the Year. I’m sure that’ll help with her legal bills.
It’s a shame, though, that in the glut of awards, there no longer seems to be space to acknowledge the video labels releasing collector editions of vintage titles, or a Lifetime Achievement.
For those interested, the entire list of winners can be found here.
