LAS VEGAS – It’s the end of an era. What started as a parody of the adult entertainment industry’s never-ending quest for public recognition has gone legit.
On Monday evening, for the first time, the GFY Awards were presented during a gala ceremony conducted as part of the annual Internext Expo adult webmaster trade show. The celebration, inside Vinyl at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, adopted all the pomp and circumstance more typically associated with the oh-so-important industry awards shows the GFYs originally sought to skewer.
Even the awards categories have become more sedate and serious. That’s probably to be expected, since the forum itself is no longer the rebellious, no-holds-barred, independently owned frontier it started out to be in 2000.
AVN Media Network — corporate parent of Adult Video News, the Adult Entertainment Expo, Internext and the AVN Awards (dubbed “the Oscars of Adult”) — acquired GFY from ICS Entertainment in January 2011. Later that year, AVN re-conceived the formerly tongue-in-cheek, forum-based awards and presented what it called the GFY People’s Choice Awards during Webmaster Access in Amsterdam. Most of the snarky categories disappeared. The following year, the second-annual GFY People’s Choice Awards included even fewer nods to the sort of digital mayhem for which GFY is justifiably infamous.
This year, the awards finally dropped all pretense at sarcasm … along with the “People’s Choice” part of their moniker.
Monday’s ceremony included not only awards presentations, but also entertainment by popular cover band Ironic Maiden.
Here, without further ado, is the list of 2014 GFY Awards winners:
Best Sex Toy Affiliate Program: My Free Sex Store
Best Design Studio: Zuzana Design
Best Software Company: AdultCentro
Innovative Company of the Year: CrakMedia
Transgender Affiliate Program: Nikki99
Best Advertising Network: JuicyAds
Most Entertaining GFY Member: Achmed
Businesswoman of the Year: Ruth Blair of Paxum
Best Webcam Studio: Happy Studio
Best Billing Company: CCBill
Best Content Production: MetArt
Best Content Provider: AdultCentro
Best Dating Company: AdultFriendFinder
Best Gay Affiliate Program: Buddy Profits
Best Affiliate Manager: Jimmy “Wizzo” Foreman
Businessman of the Year: Nick C.
Best Hosting Company: MojoHost
Best Live Cam Company: Chaturbate
Best New Site of the Year: Mr. Man
Best Payment Service: Paxum
Best VOD Company: AEBN
Best Mobile Company: BitterStrawberry
Best Affiliate Program: CrakRevenue
GFY Hall of Fame Inductee: Patrick “The Hun” Terwee
