Though not everyone showed to accept awards last Saturday, Sept 4th (the competition was, er, stiff and of course suffered from Internext post-coitus), the sleek etched-glass trophies were amiably accepted by other attendees on behalf of their web-brethren.
The slick production included a big video screen depicting on-stage action and nominee and winner video clips, as well as DJ Franco Fabi cuing mood and transition tunes, and live band Zone 51 jumping in when winners were announced.
Presenters included Eric from GammaCash.com, Howard and Norton from MyVirtualCard.com, Platinum Adam from PlatinumBucks.com and MediaGuy from 2much.net, among many others.
Plante reserved a "very personal" Hall of Fame award for photographer JFK of Fubar Webmasters Adventures for the climax of the show, while starting off with the Best Single Amateur Site, awarded to TaylorLittle.com, from LightspeedCash, which had to contend against an incredible 35 nominees.
In between were multiple award winners (PlatinumBucks in four categories, SunnyLeone.com in two), a fair selection of niche categories (winners include: ShesHuge.com, MILFsExposed.com, RealTrannies.com), and a pleasant surprise or two, such as a Best Free Site category (AdultDictionary.com from JaBooters) and Klixxx Publication being awarded Adult Company of the Year.
An interesting factoid about the nominees in the Best Foreign Language Site category is they were all French. Factoid #2? The winner was PornstarAcademie.com, based in the province of Quebec - hardly foreign to many of the judges and attendees, but deserving nonetheless for last year's media buzz around its pornification of American Idol-type programming.
In the end, unlike adult awards which present as many if not more offline than online categories, the Best Adult Awards was a study in and drawing together of disparate elements of the Adult Internet business, in its own way a great equalizer which, in the words of NaughtyNiche.com's Emanuelle, "Brings people together like nothing before."
Up-and-coming videographers rubbed elbows with experienced photographers, starry-eyed starlets rubbed other parts with experienced porn stars, and little website guys got to meet Big-time website guys and learn that they, too, could be there one day – because everyone was just as down to earth as the next one, and that, as James Garner said once on "The Rockford Files", the nomination really is the award.
For a full list of the nominees and winners, see the BAA site at www.bestadultawards.com/winners.php.
