The AVN Awards are film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN (Adult Video News) to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic movies and they are called the "Oscars of porn".^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

The awards are divided into over 100 categories, some of which are analogous to industry awards offered in other film and video genres and others that are specific to pornographic/erotic film and video.^[8]

AVN sponsored the first AVN Awards ceremony in February 1984. The award ceremony occurs in early January during the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since 2008, the ceremony has aired in a form edited for time on Showtime, which is usually broadcast in a 90-minute time slot.^[9]

Awards for gay adult video were a part of the AVN Awards from the 1986 ceremony through the 1998 ceremony. The increasing number of categories made the show unwieldy. For the 1999 ceremony AVN Magazine began hosting the GayVN Awards, an annual adult movie award event for gay adult video.^[10]

Originally, the awards show was part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but it grew and garnered more attention over time, allowing it to be established as a separate event in the 1990s.^[11] The event started out as the "Adult Software exhibition" of the show, which attracted as many as 100,000 visitors in addition to those attending CES. When the show became a separate event, it initially moved to Caesar's Palace, but it has since moved to other Las Vegas venues.^[12]

A writer from Los Angeles magazine made the claim in 2006 that awards often go to consistent advertisers in AVN magazine.^[13] In his article, the writer stated: "Imagine the editors of Variety choosing the Academy Award nominations—then handing out Oscars to the winners—and you have a pretty good idea of how much manipulation can go on behind the scenes during the run-up to the AVNs. [...] Actresses trying to secure a nomination stop in to schmooze at the magazine's Chatsworth offices. [An agency] client once presented dolls of herself to editors and writers. Another baked cookies". Similar allegations have been made regarding the Academy Award nominations and influencing Academy member voting that date back to at least 1988 with regard to movies such as Rain Man.^[12][14]

In 2013, actress Tanya Tate offered some insights into the industry in an interview with the Huffington Post about the 30th AVN Awards at which she was nominated for an award. She stated: "If you are more popular with the fans, companies are more likely to book you for their production", "Being nominated for awards help build your recognition with your fan base. People that win male and female performer of the year are generally solid consistent talent that are open to many 'levels', and some of these performers already have higher basic rates than others".^[15]

The following is a list of the winners in the major categories for the AVN Awards.^[16]