CHATSWORTH, CA — Among the nominees for the 26th annual AVN Awards — adult entertainment’s version of mainstream Hollywood’s Oscars — are 40 studios and individuals competing in three brand-new categories honoring achievement on the Web.“We considered hundreds of great sites and had to make some extremely tough decisions, but we feel this year’s nominees represent some of the best content in the adult industry,” said MJ McMahon, publisher of
AVN Online, a trade magazine covering the digital side of the adult industry.

The AVN Awards have included Web-based categories in the past, but those categories primarily focused on studios’ product marketing, McMahon told YNOT. Two of those categories — Best On-Line Marketing Campaign–Individual Product and Best On-Line Marketing Campaign–Company Image — have been discontinued. The two categories dedicated to recognizing excellence in online movie rentals and sales have been combined into one category for 2009.

“We felt the three categories we chose to include this year would honor the best of the best and also keep with the spirit of the AVN Awards as a whole: an awards show that celebrates the great content and great performers that this industry produces,” McMahon said. “We certainly considered adding several niche categories as well, but ultimately decided against it for two reasons. First, there are so many niches, there isn’t really a good place to draw the line. Secondly, the AVN Awards already contain hundreds of categories. So, ultimately, we also had to take a look at the length of the awards show itself. No one wants to sit through a four-hour award show, even if they are watching porn.

“I want to point out, though, that even though there were no niche categories, some ‘niche’ sites did fare very well in the Adult Site of the Year category,” McMahon added. “Both Kink.com and AllInternal.com were nominated, along with several sites that focus on ‘reality’ content, so all in all I think that category is very representative of a lot of great niches and content.”

That aside, McMahon indicated the three Web categories added for 2009 may be the vanguard of a larger contingent to come.

“We will certainly explore adding additional Web categories in the future, but the focus will remain the same: content and performers,” he told YNOT. “While I think we can all agree that a seasoned reviewer can objectively judge a content-based website on its merits, I strongly feel it’s impossible to judge a business the same way. How do you select, say, the billing company or affiliate program of the year? That might be possible if all of the billing companies opened up their books and let our reviewers look at their numbers, or if affiliate programs verified how many affiliates they had, traffic patterns, creative developments and so forth. Short of that, I think choosing businesses as the best anything of the year is a farce. While we may expand the program further with websites, we certainly have no plans to change the focus of an awards program that has worked for 25 years.”

The focus may not change, per se, but that doesn’t mean it can’t mature with the times, he added.

“I think the maturation of this marketplace is the main reason [2009 seemed like a good time to introduce new Web-based awards],” McMahon said. “If you look at adult content as a whole, it’s no longer the big studios that necessarily make the best of the best. Companies like Bang Bros., Naughty America and more recently, Brazzers, have changed the landscape dramatically. All three of those examples were born on the Web. They’re probably never going to make an epic feature like Pirates, but that doesn’t mean they don’t produce content that is equally as hot. I certainly feel strongly that it’s time, even overdue, that we honor these producers.”

The nominating committee consisted of AVN staff members and “guest panelists” from The Best Porn and Rabbit’s Reviews. McMahon said the winners will be determined by a panel of judges from the same entities.

The 2009 AVN Awards nominees from the Web are:

Adult Site of the Year: 1by-Day.com, AbbyWinters.com, AllInternal.com, BangBros.com, BrainPass.com, Brazzers.com, BurningAngel.com, DigitalDesire.com, FTVGirls.com, Kink.com, Met-Art.com, NaughtyAmerica.com, OnlyTease.com, RealityKings.com and VideoBox.com.

Best New Web Starlet: Ariel (ArielsBlog.com, Bree Olson (BreeOlson.com), Candy Monroe (CandyMonroe.com), Cute Joy (CuteJoy.com), Celeste (ILoveYouCeleste.com), Mya (ILoveYouMya.com), Kara Duhe (KaraDuhe.com), Maitresse Madeline (MadelineIsWicked.com), Selina 18 (Selina18.com) and Sofia Rain (SofiaRain.com).

Web Starlet of the Year: Alison Angel (AlisonAngel.com), Anna Miller (4RealSwingers.com), Ariel Rebel (ArielRebel.com), Catalina Cruz (CatalinaCruz.com), Gina Lynn (GinaLynn.com), Jenna Haze (JennaHaze.com), Kelly Madison (KellyMadison.com), Lia 19 (Lia19.com), Misty Anderson (MistyAnderson.com), Only Carla (OnlyCarla.com), Puma Swede (PumaSwede.com), Rachel Aziani (RachelAziani.com), Ruby Day (RubysDiary.com), Sophie Dee (ClubSophieDee.com) and Sweet Yurizan (SweetYurizan.com).

In addition to the competitive categories, five individuals will be inducted into the Internet Founders branch of the AVN Hall of Fame. Al Hadhazy of iFriends and Amateur Hardcore, Andrew Conru of AdultFriendFinder, David van der Poel and Toine Rodenberg of Python, Greg Clayman and Chuck Tsiamis of Video Secrets and Ron Levi of Cybererotica and CECash are the honorees.

The AVN Awards will take place January 10th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The festivities are open to the public. Tickets, which are discounted for adult industry insiders, and more information are available on the website AVNAwards.com.