Best Romance Release was one of several new categories created for the 30th Awards Show. The new categories "reflect the ever-evolving market trends of the business" and the Best Romance award is for a movie with a romantic story line geared specifically to women or couples.[5]Torn, starring best actor winner Steven St. Croix, won the first Best Romance award.
Wasteland took top honors as Movie of the Year, also winning best drama and six other awards, including a directing award for Graham Travis, who also directed the previous year's top movie, and a Best Actress victory for Lily Carter. Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody took six awards including Best Parody – Comedy.
Octomom Home Alone won the Best Celebrity Sex Tape category,[6] while Axel Braun won his third straight Director of the Year award[7] and Remy LaCroix won the AVN Best New Starlet Award. All winners were presented newly redesigned trophies, depicting an intertwined couple, to celebrate the awards' 30th anniversary.[8]
Winners and nominees
The nominees for the 30th AVN Awards were announced on November 30, 2012.[5]
Major awards
Winners of categories announced during the awards ceremony January 19, 2013, are highlighted in boldface.[9]
Cindy Hope, Jessie Volt, Candy Alexa, Abbie Cat, Barbie White, Aliz, Bibi Noel, Jessica, Bellina, Victoria Tiffani, Keiran Lee, Scott Nails - Brazzers Worldwide: Budapest
Brooklyn Lee, LouLou, Danny D. - Brooklyn Lee: Nymphomaniac
Anissa Kate, Ian Scott, Omar - Den of Depravity
Franceska Jaimes, Nacho Vidal (scene 2) - Fucking Tour
Lea Lexis, Nick Lang, Mugur - In Anal Sluts We Trust 4
Aleska Diamond, Anastasia Devine, Anna Polina, Cindy Dollar, Defrancesca Gallardo, Katy, Nataly, Jenna Lovely, Lucy Bell, Niki Sweet, Silvie De Lux, Suzie Carina, Valleria, Pavel Matous, George Uhl, Marcio Gonzales, Leny Ewil, Steve Q., J. J. - Inglorious Bitches
Lucie Love, Kai Taylor - J’Adore
Closing orgy - The Journalist
Paige Ashley, Lexi Ward, Kai Taylor - Man Trap: Apply Within
Claire Castel group scene - Pornochic 23: Claire Castel
Melanie Memphis, Aliz, J. J., Neeo, Mr. Pete, Ian Scott, Mick Blue - A Ship E-rect
Holly D., Pascal White - Stilettos
Aliz, J. J., Leny Ewil - Swinger's Club Prive 2: Cum and Party
Franki, Danny D., George Uhl, Iain Tate - Young Harlots: Highland Fling
These awards were not presented during the awards ceremony itself but were announced separately. In addition, the awards for Best Animated Release, Best Gonzo Series, Best Softcore Release, and Best Vignette Series were on the list of award categories,[10] but were not presented in 2013.
Video/DVD Categories
Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene: Brooklyn Lee, Ruth Medina, Samantha Bentley - Brooklyn Lee: Nymphomaniac
Best Porn Star Website:Joanna Angel - JoannaAngel.com
Best Solo Girl Website:Jelena Jensen - JelenaJensen.com
Best Studio Website:Evil Angel - EvilAngelVideo.com
Best Web Premiere:Voracious: Episodes 1–9 - EvilAngel.com
Honorary AVN Awards
Reuben Sturman Award
Lasse Braun was awarded the Reuben Sturman Award, which "recognizes industry stalwarts who've made revolutionary strides for industry rights by battling legal and free speech obstructions."[11]
Visionary Award
Adam & Eve founder Phil Harvey was chosen to receive the second annual Visionary Award "not only for his success in taking a novelty start-up company into nearly every realm of adult commerce, but also for his sense of civic responsibility in helping to prevent the scourge of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies from destroying lives in Third World countries."[12]
Hall of Fame
The AVN Awards Hall of Fame inductees, "a handful of individuals who’ve left a perennial imprint in the history pages of the adult entertainment industry," for 2013 were:
Internet Founders Branch: Danni Ashe, Founder of Danni's Hard Drive; Anthony J., Founder of NetVideoGirls.com; and Bill Pinyon & Steve Wojcik, Founders of Badpuppy.com[13]
Pleasure Product Branch: Dennis Paradise of Paradise Marketing, Mark Franks of Castle Megastore, and Teddy Rothstein, Irwin Schwartz & Elliot Schwartz of Nasstoys/Novelties by Nasswalk[14]
3 awards: Asa Akira Is Insatiable 3, Rubber Bordello
2 awards: Alexis Ford Darkside, Asa Akira to the Limit, Brooklyn Lee: Nymphomaniac, Men in Black: A Hardcore Parody, Oil Overload 7, Torn, Voracious: The First Season
The following releases received the most nominations:
Beginning with the 30th AVN Awards, the following changes to award categories took place:[5]
The AVN Award for Best Feature has been renamed Best Drama to properly complement Best Comedy.
The AVN Award for Best All-Sex Release - Mixed Format has been renamed Best Wall-to-Wall Release for movies that mix gonzo, vignette and all-sex scene genres.
The discontinued AVN Award previously known as Best All-Sex/Vignette Series has been reintroduced as Best Continuing Series. (Similarly, the existing Best Foreign All-Sex Series and Best Foreign All-Sex Release awards were renamed Best Foreign Continuing Series and Best Foreign Non-Feature respectively.)
The discontinued AVN Award Best New Production Company has been reintroduced because of market expansion.
New categories, including Best Romance Release, Best Star Showcase and Best Transsexual Sex Scene have been introduced to reflect evolving market trends.
Reception and review
Some media outlets were impressed by the show. Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun reported, "It was the annual sea of sexiness that couldn't take place anywhere else in the world."[18] He also noted the large size of the crowd as did the Huffington Post, which pointed out, "Thousands of fanboys and porn stars flooded the halls" and "all the A-listers were there."[19]
In Memoriam
As the show was beginning, AVN used a video segment to pay a tribute to adult-industry personalities who had died since the 2012 awards show:
^A Rather than nominees for the Movie of the Year category, voting is conducted separately just prior to the awards ceremony from among winners in "best release" categories[21] including those listed.