This list of adult industry awards is an index to articles about notable awards related to the sex industry. The list gives the country of the awarding organization, but recipients are not necessarily limited to that country. A general list is followed by lists of gay and American pornographic films.
| Country | Award | Sponsor | Given for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Australian Adult Industry Awards | Australian Taxation Office | Outstanding Australian achievements in the adult industry |
| Australia | X Awards Australia | Sweet Release Agency | Australian Adult Entertainment Business Industry Awards. |
| Worldwide | X Awards Global | Sweet Release Agency | XAWARDS Global Adult Industry Awards Network |
| Japan | AV Open / AV GrandPrix | Japanese adult video industry | |
| Spain | Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival | FICEB | Various awards |
| Germany | Erotixxx Award | eLine, Venus Berlin trade fair | Adult film industry |
| Belgium | European X Awards | Brussels International Festival of Eroticism | European adult video industry |
| Canada | Feminist Porn Award | Good for Her | Erotica that complicates dominant representations of desire, desirability, sexuality and gender |
| France | Hot d'Or | Adult film industry | |
| Switzerland | La Fête du Slip | Viviane & Stéphane Morey | Body, gender, and sexuality in art |
| Japan | Pink Grand Prix | PG Magazine | Film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film |
| Japan | Pinky Ribbon Awards | Pink Link | Excellence in the pink film genre |
| Germany | PorYes | European feminist porn movie award | |
| United Kingdom | Sexual Freedom Awards | Achievement in the sexuality and erotica industries worldwide | |
| Brazil | Sexy Hot Award | Sexy Hot | Pornographic film awards |
| United Kingdom | SHAFTA Awards (adult video) | Television X | Film award ceremony for pornographic films |
| Japan | Sky PerfecTV! Adult Broadcasting Awards | SKY PerfecTV! | Performances in adult video programs shown on SKY PerfecTV! satellite TV channels in Japan |
| United Kingdom | UK Adult Film and Television Awards | Adult film | |
| Germany | Venus Award | Venus Berlin trade fair | Adult film award |
| Country | Award | Sponsor | Given for |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 10th Annual Cybersocket Web Awards | Cybersocket, Inc. | Gay web content: cam sites to processors to content providers |
| United States | Blatino Erotica Awards | Blatino Oasis | Gay men of color who have distinguished themselves in adult entertainment |
| United States | GayVN Awards | AVN (magazine) | Work done in the gay pornography industry |
| United States | Grabby Awards | Grab Magazine | Work done in the gay adult erotic video industry |
| Award | Sponsor | Given for |
|---|---|---|
| X-Caliber Awards | Adam Film World | Based on votes of readers who are members of the audiences of the adult theaters |
| AVN Awards | AVN (magazine) | Achievement in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic movies. See also List of members of the AVN Hall of Fame |
| CAFA Awards | Critics Adult Film Association | Awards for those working in pornographic film during the 1980s |
| Erotic Film Awards | Adult Film Association of America | Adult film awards ceremony |
| Erotic Movie Awards | Hustler | Excellence in the erotic-film industry |
| The Fannys | Exxxotica Expo | Award nominees and winners selected by the fans through voting |
| Fans of Adult Media and Entertainment Award | Genesis (magazine) etc. | Favorite adult film stars, directors, movies, and companies |
| Fans of X-Rated Entertainment | FOXE | Male Fan Favorite, Female Fan Favorite, and Video Vixen |
| FSC Lifetime Achievement Awards | Free Speech Coalition | Adult industry businesses and professionals for outstanding achievements and contributions to the adult entertainment industry |
| NightMoves Award | NightMoves | Various categories |
| SHINE Awards | The Media Project | Those in the entertainment industry who do an exemplary job incorporating accurate and honest portrayals of sexuality into their programming |
| Transgender Erotica Awards | Grooby Productions | Achievement in the transgender adult industry |
| Urban X Award | Giana Taylor | Achievement in ethnic pornography |
| XBIZ Award | XBIZ | Individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult films |
| XRCO Award | X-Rated Critics Organization | People working in adult entertainment. See also List of members of the XRCO Hall of Fame |
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity (softcore) and sexual intercourse (hardcore). A distinction is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality, and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective.
The AVN Awards are film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic films. They are often called the "Oscars of porn".
Larry David Paciotti is an American director of pornographic films. He appears as the drag-diva persona Chi Chi LaRue, and has also been credited as director under the names "Lawrence David" and "Taylor Hudson".
Tiger Tyson is an American actor in gay pornographic films.
Adult Video News is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. The New York Times notes that AVN is to pornographic films what Billboard is to records. AVN sponsors an annual convention, called the Adult Entertainment Expo or AEE, in Las Vegas, Nevada along with the AVN Awards, an award show for the adult industry modeled after the Oscars.
Bisexual pornography is a genre of pornography that most typically depicts men and at least one woman who all perform sex acts on each other. A sex scene involving women and one man who all perform sex acts on each other is generally not identified or labeled as bisexual.
J. C. Adams is an American author, magazine editor, and reporter whose work focuses on the gay male pornographic industry, and a gay pornographic film director.
The Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival or FICEB is an annual Spanish pornographic film festival and awards ceremony. It is the oldest adult film festival in Europe.
James Elliott Naughtin, known professionally as Erik Rhodes, was an American gay pornographic film actor and director. After making his adult film debut as a performer in 2004, Rhodes became an exclusive model with Falcon Studios, and began directing adult films for Raging Stallion Studios when the studio was acquired by Falcon in 2011. Beyond his work in pornography, Rhodes was active in New York City nightlife and celebrity circles, and was once linked to fashion designer Marc Jacobs. In 2012, Rhodes died from cardiac arrest at the age of 30.
A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic subgenres and attempt to present a sexual fantasy; the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create or fit that fantasy. Pornographic videos are characterised as either softcore, which does not contain depictions of sexual penetration or extreme fetishism, and hardcore, which can contain depictions of penetration or extreme fetishism, or both. The genres and sexual intensity of videos is mainly determined by demand. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance, age, and physical features of the actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the video is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as straight sex, bisexual sex, gay sex, lesbian sex, bondage, strap-on sex, anal sex, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage women, orgy sex, age roleplay sex, fauxcest sex, interracial or MILFs and much more.
Alden Joseph Brown, known professionally as Peter North, is a Canadian retired pornographic actor, director and producer. He has 2,588 credits as an actor.
Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; it at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornography for heterosexual female and homosexual male consumption.
The sex industry consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish or BDSM paraphernalia. Sex channels for television and pre-paid sex movies for video on demand, are part of the sex industry, as are adult movie theaters, sex shops, peep shows, and strip clubs. The sex industry employs millions of people worldwide, mainly women. These range from the sex worker, also called adult service provider (ASP) or adult sex provider, who provides sexual services, to a multitude of support personnel.
Rod Barry, is a former pornographic actor and director from the United States who has been credited in over 150 pornographic films and internet-based shows since entering the industry in 1996. Most of Barry's appearances have been in the gay pornography genre, but he has also appeared in bisexual, transsexual and heterosexual videos. In 2008, he was inducted into the gay pornography industry's Hall of Fame.
Richard Allen Karp, better known by his stage name Cole Tucker, was an American actor in gay pornography. Tucker was born in New York. He started making appearances in gay pornography in 1996 at the age of 43, previously working as a realtor. In 1998, he appeared in Sex/Life in L.A. Jochen Hick's adult documentary about the sex lives of the men who make L.A. adult movies. In 1999, he revealed in a story published in the London Standard that he was HIV-positive and also had a relationship with former British Conservative Party MEP Tom Spencer.
Brandon Lee, is a Filipino-American gay pornographic film actor. He is regarded as the first gay Asian porn star and arguably the most popular Asian pornographic actor in contemporary gay male culture.