The MTV Latin America Awards, originally known as the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America (VMALA), were the Latin American edition of the MTV Video Music Awards.[1] The show debuted on MTV Latin America in 2002 under its original name. In subsequent years, it was rebranded as Los Premios MTV ("The MTV Awards"), though it continued to be referred to internationally as the MTV Latin America Awards.
The awards were created to celebrate the most notable musicians and music videos in Latin America. They were presented annually and broadcast live on MTV Networks Latin America. Winners received a trophy known as the lengua ("tongue"), a stylized tongue-shaped statue. According to the network, the design represented the Spanish-language as the cultural thread that unites Latin America.
From 2002 to 2004, all ceremonies were held in Miami, Florida. The 2005 edition was scheduled to take place in Latin America for the first time, but was ultimately cancelled (see below). The 2006 ceremony, held in Mexico City, became the first to be successfully celebrated in the region. The awards were discontinued in 2010 and later succeeded by the MTV Millennial Awards (MTV MIAW) in 2013.
History
Created in 2002, the VMALAs were held in the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida until 2004. Sylvia Villagran was the live announcer. In 2005 the awards were to be held Wednesday, October 19 at the Xcaret Park's Great Tlachco Theater in Playa del Carmen (close to Cancún), Quintana Roo, Mexico, for the first time in a different location since their creation. However, due to the approach of Hurricane Wilma towards the Mexican Riviera Maya, the show was moved from October 20 to the 19th, but it was eventually postponed. The date was then moved again, this time to December 22. A couple of months later, MTV decided that it was not feasible to have the show on the aforementioned scheduled date. Instead, the awards were given out on a 1/2 hour special where the winners received their awards after having practical jokes played on them (in a Punk'd style). Would-be hosts Molotov hosted this special and played live on a public concert in Playa del Carmen. Another special aired that same day with some of the winners performing. Miranda! played from their studio in Argentina. Two songs from Juanes's concert in Buenos Aires were also filmed by MTV for this special, and Panda and Reik also performed from MTV's studios in Mexico City. Another half-hour special was broadcast that day showing how the show was supposed to happen and the reaction of the artists and MTV's workers after they found out about its cancellation. The 2005 edition would have included performances by Shakira, Sean Paul, My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, Ricky Martin, Simple Plan, Miranda!, Babasónicos, Belinda, and Good Charlotte.
On July 21 MTV Latin America announced that the 2006 ceremonies would be held on 19 October 2006 in Palacio de los Deportes indoor arena in Mexico City. Also, MTV announced that the name of the awards would be changed from Video Music Awards Latin America to Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Awards Latin America). The nominees for this year's awards were announced on September 4, introducing 3 new categories: Promising Artist, Breakthrough Artist, and Song of the Year (the only category with nominees in both English and Spanish). Also, Best Solo Artist again replaced Best Male and Female, while the award for Best International Hip-Hop/R&B Artist will not be handed out. It also appeared that the ceremony returned in style after the previous year's ceremony was cancelled in 2005 due to Hurricane Wilma and all of the presenters for the 2006 ceremony apologized to viewers during the broadcast for such, and, for the first time, viewers would be able to vote for the Best Independent Artist award, but a few days later, the category was taken completely off the voting list, which meant that its inclusion on it was an error by MTV. Also, MTV Tr3s will be handing out for the first time ever its own Viewer's Choice Award during their U.S. simulcast of the event. The following years the event was held in Mexico too (Mexico City in 2007 and Guadalajara, Jalisco in 2008).
In 2009 the event was held in three cities in different dates (September 30 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; October 5 in Mexico City, Mexico; October 11 in Bogotá, Colombia) and broadcast live in Los Angeles on October 15. In 2010 the awards were permanently cancelled and replaced by the MTV World Stage Mexico.
Like the MTV Europe Music Awards and the MTV Asia Awards, the VMALAs also hand out its regional categories. These regions, however, have been under constant changes and renaming. Here's how each region was perceived year by year:
2002:
North: Mexico, Central America, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Colombia
Southwest: Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador
Southeast: Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay
2003–2009:
North (Mexico in 2004): Mexico
Central: Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Central America, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Bolivia
South (Argentina in 2004): Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
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