21st AVN Awards

The 21st AVN Awards ceremony, presented by Adult Video News (AVN), took place January 10, 2004 at the Venetian Hotel Grand Ballroom, at Paradise, Nevada, U.S.A. During the ceremony, AVN presented AVN Awards in 94 categories honoring the best pornographic films released between Oct. 1, 2002 and Sept. 30, 2003. The ceremony, televised in the United States by Playboy TV, was produced and directed by Gary Miller. Comedian Jim Norton hosted the show for the first time with adult film star Jenna Jameson in her third stint as co-host.

Heart of Darkness won five awards including Best Director—Film for Paul Thomas and Best Film, however, Space Nuts took home the most awards, with six. Other multiple winners included Rawhide, with five awards; Beautiful and Hard Edge with four wins apiece and Fetish: The Dream Scape and Looking In with three each.

Winners and nominees
The nominees for the 21st AVN Awards were announced on December 1, 2003. Rawhide received the most nominations with 15, followed by Heart of Darkness with 14, Space Nuts and Compulsion each with 13 and Beautiful with 12.

The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on January 10, 2004. Space Nuts, a shot-on-video feature with six wins, became one of the rare movies that didn't win a best picture category; those having been won by Heart of Darkness (Best Film), Rawhide and Beautiful tying for Best Video Feature and The Fashionistas capturing Best DVD. The tie of Rawhide and Beautiful for Best Video Feature was a first for that category. AVN's voting procedure in the event of a tie is "Those voters on the AVN full-time staff who did no vote for either of the videos during the original balloting must revote." But even after that step a tie still existed, so AVN senior management decided to let the result stand.

Major awards


Winners  are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).

Additional Award Winners
These awards were announced, but not presented, in two pre-recorded winners-only segments during the event. Trophies were given to the recipients off-stage:


 * Best All-Girl Feature: Babes Illustrated 13
 * Best All-Girl Series: No Man's Land
 * Best All-Girl Sex Scene—Film: Dru Berrymore, Teanna Kai, Snakeskin
 * Best All-Sex DVD: Flesh Hunter 4
 * Best All-Sex Film: Hard Edge
 * Best All-Sex Video: Fetish: The Dream Scape
 * Best Alternative Video: Interviewing Jenna
 * Best Amateur Series: Homegrown Video
 * Best Amateur Tape: NYC Underground: Manhattan Girls
 * Best Anal Sex Scene—Video: Gisselle, Katsumi, Michael Stefano, Multiple P.O.V.
 * Best Anal-Themed Feature: Ass Worship 4
 * Best Anal-Themed Series: Ass Worship
 * Best Art Direction—Film: Andrew Blake, Hard Edge
 * Best Art Direction—Video: Laurent Sky, Fetish: The Dream Scape
 * Best Cinematography: Andrew Blake, Hard Edge
 * Best Classic DVD: Insatiable, i-candy Entertainment
 * Best Continuing Video Series: Girlvert
 * Best Director, Non-Feature: Laurent Sky, Fetish: The Dream Scape
 * Best Director, Foreign Release: Gazzman, The Scottish Loveknot
 * Best DVD Extras: Space Nuts
 * Best DVD Menus: Space Nuts
 * Best DVD Packaging: Rawhide
 * Best Editing—Film: Andrew Blake, Hard Edge
 * Best Editing—Video: Alexander Craig, Antonio Passolini New Wave Hookers 7
 * Best Ethnic-Themed Series: Chasin' the Big Ones
 * Best Ethnic-Themed Video—Asian: Asia Noir 2
 * Best Ethnic-Themed Video—Latin: Spanish Fly Pussy Search
 * Best Foot Fetish Release: Barefoot Confidential 25
 * Best Foreign All-Sex Release: Euroglam: Nikki Blonde
 * Best Foreign All-Sex Series: Euroglam
 * Best Foreign Feature: The Scottish Loveknot
 * Best Gonzo Series: Service Animals
 * Best Group Sex Scene—Film: Dru Berrymore, AnneMarie, Taylor St. Claire, Savanna Samson, Dale DaBone, Mickey G., Steven St. Croix, Looking In
 * Best Group Sex Scene—Video: Ashley Long, Julie Night, Nacho Vidal, Manuel Ferrera, Back 2 Evil
 * Best High-Definition Production: Rawhide
 * Best Interactive DVD: My Plaything: Jenna Jameson 2
 * Best Male Newcomer: Ben English
 * Best Marketing Website: EvilAngel.com
 * Best Music: Doug Scott, Allen Rene, Opera
 * Best Non-Sex Performance: Allen Rene, Opera
 * Best Oral-Themed Feature: Feeding Frenzy 2
 * Best Oral-Themed Series: Gag Factor
 * Best Overall Marketing Campaign—Company Image: Vivid Entertainment Group
 * Best Overall Marketing Campaign—Individual Project: Mary Carey Campaign, Kick Ass Pictures
 * Best Pro-Am Release: Breakin Em In 5
 * Best Pro-Am Series: Breakin Em In
 * Best Retail Website: AdultDVDEmpire.com
 * Best Screenplay—Film: Axel Braun, Compulsion
 * Best Screenplay—Video: George Kaplan, Michael Raven, Beautiful
 * Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production: Katsumi, Steve Holmes, Katsumi's Affair
 * Best Solo Sex Scene: Brooke Ballentyne, Screaming Orgasms 11
 * Best Special Effects: Dick Roundtree, Chokko Calisto, MV Effects, Space Nuts
 * Best Specialty Big Bust Release: Heavy Handfuls 2
 * Best Specialty BD & SM Release: Debbie Does Fem-Dom 3
 * Best Specialty Release—Other Genre: Chunky on the Fourth of July
 * Best Specialty Spanking Release: Spanked Toilet Whores
 * Best Supporting Actor—Video: Randy Spears, Space Nuts
 * Best Supporting Actress—Video: Brooke Ballentyne, Rawhide
 * Best Tease Performance: Michelle Wild, Crack Her Jack
 * Best Transsexual Release: She-Male Domination Nation
 * Best VHS Box Cover Concept: Angel X, Wicked Pictures
 * Best VHS Packaging: Euroglam: Wanda Curtis, Ninn Worx/Pure Play
 * Best Videography: Nicholas Steele, Rawhide
 * Best Vignette Tape: Mason's Dirty Trixxx 2
 * Best Vignette Series: Barely Legal
 * Female Foreign Performer of the Year: Mandy Bright
 * Male Foreign Performer of the Year: Manuel Ferrera
 * Most Outrageous Sex Scene: Julie Night, Maggie Star, Mr. Pete in "Love in an Abbatoir," Perverted Stories The Movie
 * Transsexual Performer of the Year: Vaniity

Reuben Sturman Award

 * None given this year

Hall of Fame
AVN Hall of Fame inductees for 2004 were: Julia Ann, Brad Armstrong, Kim Christy, Don Fernando, Max Hardcore, Houston, Johnny Keyes, Jim Malibu, Rhonda Jo Petty, Alicia Rio, Misty Rain, Barry Wood

Multiple nominations and awards
The following releases received the most nominations.

The following 17 releases received multiple awards:

Presenters and performers
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers or comedy.

Ceremony information
AVN created five new categories for the 2004 awards show: Best Amateur Tape, Best Amateur Series, Best Marketing Website — Production Company, Best Retail Website and Best Transsexual Performer.

A few years earlier, AVN had changed its Best Amateur Tape and Best Amateur Series Awards categories to Best Pro-Am or Amateur Tape and Best Pro-Am or Amateur Series. Amateur productions and pro-am productions now will be split into separate categories with professionals shooting or performing in the pro-am categories but not the strictly amateur categories. The Best Marketing Website — Production Company category is for free websites "strictly devoted to marketing adult product," and the Best Retail Website category is for non-pay sites selling adult products. Best Transsexual Performer was created because until now, the only award recognizing the transsexual genre was the Best Transsexual Tape, which recognized directors more than performers.

Besides being recorded for March broadcast on Playboy TV, a DVD of the awards show was also issued by Hustler.

Performance of year's movies
Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp was announced as the adult movie industry's top selling movie and The Fashionistas was the top renting movie of the previous year.

Critical reviews
High Society magazine viewed the show and its surrounding AVN Adult Entertainment Expo favourably: "AEE, and the accompanying AVN Awards, is a hell of a lot of fun, but we're kind of glad it only happens once a year. That many breast implants, tattoos, piercings and diva-like attitudes in one buiilding, at one time, is a little much, even for us."