Best Picture Underworld | Most awards Underworld (9) | |
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Date January 18, 2014 (2014-01-18) Hosted by Chanel PrestonSamantha SaintRebekah Kochan Preshow host(s) Dana DeArmondNicole Aniston | ||
31st AVN Awards was an event during which Adult Video News (AVN) presented its annual AVN Awards to honor the best pornographic movies and adult entertainment products of 2013.
Contents
- Winners and nominees
- Major awards
- Additional Award Winners
- Honorary AVN Awards
- Visionary Award
- Hall of Fame
- Presenters and performers
- Ceremony information
- Changes to awards categories
- Reception and review
- In Memoriam
- References
The ceremony was held January 18, 2014, at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada. Movies or products released between October 1, 2012 and October 7, 2013 were eligible. Comedian/actress Rebekah Kochan and adult movie actresses Chanel Preston, who was co-winner of "Most Outrageous Sex Scene", and Samantha Saint hosted the AVN Awards. The awards show was held immediately after the Adult Entertainment Expo at the same venue.
Underworld took top honors as Movie of the Year, also winning Best Drama and seven other awards, including a directing award for Brad Armstrong.
Tommy Pistol was named Best Actor for his performance as Ashley J. Wiliams in adult horror film Evil Head. The coveted AVN Female Performer of the Year Award and AVN Best New Starlet Award went to Bonnie Rotten and Mia Malkova respectively. Axel Braun won Director of the Year for a record fourth consecutive time and Manuel Ferrara was awarded a record fifth Male Performer of the Year award. The new category of BBW Performer of the Year was won by April Flores. The Clever Title of the Year award was won by Seymore Butts for Cirque du Hole-A.
Winners and nominees
The categories for the 31st AVN Awards were released on September 20, 2013 and the finalists were announced on November 15, 2013.
Major awards
Winners of categories announced during the awards ceremony January 18, 2014, are highlighted in boldface.
Additional Award Winners
These awards were not presented during the awards ceremony itself but were announced before or after the show. In addition, Best 3D Release, Best Classic Release and Best Selling Title of the Year were on the list of award categories but were not presented in 2014.
Honorary AVN Awards
The Reuben Sturman Award for battling for industry rights was not presented in 2014.
Visionary Award
Wicked Pictures founder Steve Orenstein was chosen to receive the third annual Visionary Award for "ethics, civic responsibility, an eye for quality and innovation, and a compassionate understanding of adult entertainment and its place in mainstream society".
Hall of Fame
The AVN Awards Hall of Fame inductees, "all of whom have attained not only longevity but also something more important: memorable achievements in front of the camera, behind the camera and back in the office," for 2014 were:
Presenters and performers
The following individuals were presenters or performers during the awards ceremony:
Ceremony information
With the strong showing in awards categories by feature movies, Adult Video News proclaimed them alive and well: "Despite mumbling that features and parodies have run their course, several were big winners this year, including Underworld, Grease XXX, Temptation of Eve and Man of Steel XXX."
Changes to awards categories
Beginning with the 31st AVN Awards, several new categories were introduced to reflect evolving market trends, including:
Meanwhile, the Best Photography Website category was renamed Best Glamour Website "to include sites that also feature glamorous video content." Unsung Starlet of the Year was renamed Unsung Female Performer of the Year, Best New Production Company became Best New Studio and Crossover Star of the Year became Mainstream Star of the Year.
Fan vote categories increased from four to 10 and the categories themselves were completely changed, from Favorite Body, Twitter Queen, Favorite Porn Star and Best Free Adult Website, to the following:
AVN also added another category to its Hall of Fame: "the Executive Branch, for key members of the industry who work behind the scenes" such as in sales, marketing or education.
Best Celebrity Sex Tape and Best Internal Release were dropped on this year's list of categories.
Reception and review
Some media outlets were critical of the show. Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun reported he was told attendance was down and the entertainment was terrible.
Richard Abowitz, who covers the adult industry for The Daily Beast termed the show "lackluster", noting, "Though long-billed as the Academy Awards for the adult industry, few take that label seriously anymore. The massive decline in the porn industry’s fortunes thanks to regulatory challenges and piracy and the infinity of sex offerings on the Internet have left the remains of the mainstream porn industry closer to the cheesy and sleazy parody of the other Hollywood that defined porn’s golden era of the '80s."
ExpressMilwaukee sexuality blogger Laura Anne Stuart expressed mixed feelings about the new BBW Performer of the Year award category: "On one hand, I’m glad that the most well-known adult industry awards are recognizing that larger women are sexy and sexual. On the other hand, this probably means that the Best Actress and Female Performer of the Year categories will continue to be won by skinny people with preternaturally large boobs and/or butts."
In Memoriam
As the show was beginning, AVN used a segment to pay a tribute to adult-industry personalities who had died since the 2013 awards show, including Screw publisher Al Goldstein and producer/distributor Morty Gordon.