By Peter Berton

YNOT – Once again, sex worker community NakedTruth.ca is inviting nominations for its annual people’s choice awards. The Naked Truth Awards recognize the best in the Canadian sex industry as selected by the industry and its fans. Nominees will be posted at Nakedtruth.ca on New Year’s Day 2012; the awards ceremony will take place in June.

Heading up this year’s event is dominatrix Mz. Scream, who recently became the owner of Nakedtruth.ca. Mindful that she does not like to be contradicted — as indicated by the instructions for the awards, where she wrote “If anyone is confused as to what category their nominee fits into after reading this list thoroughly, I will bend you right over and punish you in My dungeon!” — YNOT.com carefully and respectfully put questions to her.

YNOT.com: This is the third year for The Naked Truth Awards. What keeps them going?
Mz. Scream: When Annie Temple passed over the ownership of the TNT website, I promised to continue the awards ceremony as well as our yearly Dec. 17 event, International End Violence Against Sex Worker Day. There still is a lot of interest to keep the awards going in our community, and so they shall continue.

Why are these awards important?
These awards are important because they encourage community building and networking amongst the various adult entertainment industries. They provide a sex-positive, stigma-free atmosphere for the group, and TNT believes we should provide acknowledgement for the accomplishments and contributions to our community from each industry.

What are some of the top categories, and who gets to vote?
This year we have 10 categories based on industry divisions: Exotic Dance, Service Providers, BDSM/Fetish, Adult Film/Photo, Webcam/Phone sex, Adult Media, Industry Coworkers, Adult Entertainment Supplies, Clients and Advocates/Support Workers. Anyone worldwide can access their free Nakedtruth.ca membership by signing in on the website, and then you have full access to the nominations and voting for TNT Awards 2012. The rules are listed in the forum.

What have the previous awards ceremonies been like?
The past awards have been well-attended, with a wide array of adult entertainers and industry workers, great exotic entertainment and lots of celebrating!

What do you have planned for this year?
I have not yet started planning the awards ceremony. It will take place June 9, 2012, and the details will be announced on Nakedtruth.ca as soon plans start to develop.

Do these awards make a difference to people in the sex industry?
Well, I won an award for TNT’s Favourite Pussy Squirter, and speaking for myself, I would have to say that it made me feel respected and appreciated. I had to do a lot of training and research to be able to master my talent. I think sometimes we as adult entertainers do not always get the praise we deserve for the tough jobs we do, often under challenging working conditions.

Everyone deserves credit and acknowledgement for their contributions to the world, including adult industry workers.