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. For the 1999 ceremony AVN Magazine began hosting the GayVN Awards, an annual adult movie award event for gay adult video. The increasing number of categories made the show unwieldy. Īwards for gay adult video were a part of the AVN Awards from the 1987 ceremony through the 1998 ceremony. Since 2008, the ceremony has aired in a form edited for time on Showtime, which is usually broadcast in a 90-minute time slot. The award ceremony occurs in early January during the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. ĪVN sponsored the first AVN Awards ceremony in February 1984. 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. They are often called the ' Oscars of porn'. 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 films.