YNOT EUROPE – The GAYVN Awards, which annually recognize outstanding achievement across a number of categories in the gay DVD and online realms, on Tuesday announced the slate of finalists for 2010 honors. A number of European companies, productions, performers, directors and videographers are among the nominees.

“We had an impressive number of pre-nominations this year from across the spectrum,” said Janet Gibson, chief operating officer for parent company AVN Media Network. “The nominating committee was tireless in its efforts to whittle the list down to a manageable size, but none of the categories was easy to narrow. Difficult decisions had to be made.

“We congratulate all the companies and individuals who were pre-nominated—all were worthy entrants—and we’re proud to present the final nominees.”

Among the criteria making the awards process challenging this year was the continuing industry controversy surrounding condomless or “bareback” content.

“Traditionally the GAYVN Awards have not recognized bareback content,” Gibson said. “We chose to retain that criterion this year. That made selecting nominees for the web categories particularly difficult, as non-condom content abounds on the web.

“We dropped two categories from this year’s awards because of the difficulty in finding enough websites that did not offer bareback content in those categories. ‘Best Mega-Site’ and ‘Best Retail/VOD Site’ will not be recognized this year.”

Gibson added that the awards committee is considering guidelines under which bareback content will be considered for next year’s awards.

Three categories were added due to the volume of pre-nominations incorporating specific themes: Best Fetish Release, Best Amateur/Pro-Am Release and Best Sex Comedy.

Hollywood actor and comedian Alec Mapa will host the 12th annual GAYVN Awards, which will take place Sept. 24 at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Presented by NakedSword, the 2010 GAYVN Awards will be part of the notorious Folsom Street Fair weekend in San Francisco. Other events scheduled for the weekend include a bar crawl through the SoMa district, the massive Magnitude party, NakedSword’s “Lockdown” after-party and the fair itself. For a complete schedule of events, visit GAYVNAwards.com.

Industry admission is $100 (email Beth Noonan for details). General admission is $145; VIP admission—which includes priority seating and entrance to the exclusive after-party—is $175. Both general and VIP tickets are available at GAYVNAwards.com.

All nominees will receive one complimentary ticket, regardless the number of times they were nominated.

For sponsorship and advertising information, contact AVN Chief Operating Officer Janet Gibson by email.

Without further ado, the GAYVN Awards nominees for 2010 are:

DVD categories

Best Actor
Allen Silver, Dad Takes a Fishing Trip (Dragon/Gage Media)
Cole Streets, Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion Studios)
Logan McCree, The Visitor (Raging Stallion)
Luke Marcum, Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls (Dominic Ford)
Steven Tyler, HouseBoy (DreamBoy Productions/Eurocreme)
Wilfried Knight, Obsession (Lucas Entertainment)

Best All-Sex Video
5 Americans in Prague (Bel Ami Entertainment)
Hot Bods (COLT Studio Group)
Inside Israel (Lucas)
Reckless (Hot House Entertainment)
Tales of the Arabian Nights (Raging Stallion)
Tropical Adventure (Sarava Productions/Kristen Bjorn)

Best Alternative Release
Brief Encounters (Pantheon Productions)
Buck Angel’s Ultimate Fucking Club (Buck Angel Entertainment)
John (Glitter Films)
Men in Stockings (Lucas)
Muscle Bears on the Prowl (Pacific Sun Entertainment)
Pirate’s Booty (Adult Source Media)
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (Boulevard Distribution)

Best Amateur/Pro-Am Release
Argentina (World of Men)
Battle Cry 3 (Active Duty Productions)
Brent Corrigan’s Big Easy (Prodigy Pictures/Dirty Bird Pictures)
Dressed (down & dirty) (UK Naked Men)
Stag Reel (Stag Homme Studios)

Best Cumshot
Dan Rhodes, Ink Stain (Raging Stallion)
Josh West, Dad Takes a Fishing Trip (Dragon/Gage Media)
Manuel Lopez, Stag Fight (Stag Homme)
Rafael Alencar, Wall Street (Lucas)
Spencer Reed, The Trap (Raging Stallion)

Best Director
Astrid Glitter, John (Glitter Films)
Brian Mills, Distraction (TitanMen)
Chi Chi LaRue, Taken: To the Lowest Level (Rascal Video)
Chris Ward, Ben Leon, Tony DiMarco; Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion)
Joe Gage, Dad Takes a Fishing Trip (Dragon/Gage Media)
John Rutherford, Hot Bods (COLT)
Kristofer Weston, Lotus (Buckshot Productions)
Lucas Kazan, Rough/Tender (Lucas Kazan Productions)
Michael Lucas, Obsession (Lucas)
Steven Scarborough, Skuff 4 (Hot House)
Strongboli, Love Addiction (Lucas Kazan)
Wendy Crawford, Pirate’s Booty (Adult Source Media)

Best Duo Sex Scene
Benjamin Bradley and Nelson Troy, Tread Heavy (Rascal)
Brian Bennet and Brandon Manilow, Seriously Sexy Part One (Bel Ami)
Derrek Diamond and Alexsander Freitas, Diamond Auto (Raging Stallion)
Jonathan Agassi and Matan Shalev, Men of Israel (Lucas)
Paris and Venom, Queens Plaza Pickup 3 (Real Urban Men Productions)
Tony Buff and Will Parker, Folsom Flesh (TitanMen)

Best Feature Release
Asylum (Falcon Studios)
Dad Takes Fishing Trip (Dragon/Gage Media)
Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion)
HouseBoy (DreamBoy/Eurocreme)
Obsession (Lucas)
Overdrive (Titan)
Taken: To the Lowest Level (Rascal)

Best Fetish Release
Bound Gods (Kink.com)
Darkroom (Mustang Studios)
Shock Treatment (TitanMen Rough)
Skuff 4 (Hot House)
Slick Dogs (TitanMen)

Best Group Sex Scene
Alexsander Freitas, Dominic Pacifico, Spencer Reed; Adrenaline (Mustang)
Arthur Gordon, Gustavo Arango, Ricci Julian, Jean Franko, Bruno Jones, Dany Vargas; Pride, Part 2 (Sarava/Kristen Bjorn)
Cast, Black Balled 7: Jail Slammed (C1R)
Jean-Daniel Chagall, Brandon Manilow, Alex Orioli, Ariel Vanean; Step by Step: Jean-Daniel Chagall (Bel Ami)
Shane Risk, Josh West, Tyler Saint, Chad Manning, Philip Aubrey; Taken: To the Lowest Level (Rascal)
Steve Cruz, Damien Crosse, Wilfried Knight, Francesco D’Macho; Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion)

Best HD Feature
Flux (Titan)
Folsom Flesh (Titan)
Inside Israel (Lucas)
Lost at Sea (Diamond Pictures)
Lotus (Buckshot)

Best Marketing – Company Image
Athletic Model Guild
Bel Ami Entertainment
COLT Studio Group
Jet Set Men
Lucas Entertainment
Raging Stallion Studios
Titan Media

Best Newcomer
Alessio Romero
Conner Habib
Jonathan Agassi
Kris Evans
Race Cooper
Spencer Reed
Will Parker

Best Sex Comedy
Getting Levi’s Johnson (Jet Set)
Jersey Score (Jet Set)
That 70’s Gay Porn Movie (Randy Blue Productions)
Twinkblood (BoyLair Studios/SaggerzSkaterz Studio)
Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls (Dominic Ford)

Best Solo Performance
Adam Killian, Taken: To the Lowest Level (Rascal)
Jimmy B.I.G., NakedAmericanMales Volume One (The O’Malley Studio)
Ethan Storm, Wall Street (Lucas)
Landon Mycles, Straight Edge 4 (Jet Set)
Logan McRee, The Visitor (Raging Stallion)

Best Supporting Actor
Andrew Justice, Dad Takes Fishing Trip (Dragon/Gage Media)
Ben Andrews, Wall Street (Lucas)
Matthew Rush, Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls (Dominic Ford)
Philip Aubrey, Taken: To the Lowest Level (Rascal)
Steve Cruz, Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion)

Best Videography
Jonno, Dressed (down & dirty) (UK Naked Men)
Paul Wilde and Jeff Slurry, Flux (Titan)
Ben Leon and Tony Dimarco, Focus/ReFocus (Raging Stallion)
mr. Pam, Inside Israel (Lucas)
Kristen Bjorn, Tropical Adventure, Parts 1 & 2 (Sarava/Kristen Bjorn)

Best Web-to-DVD Release
Bound Gods (Kink.com)
Fuck Your Friends! (Jake Cruise Media)
Hard Friction (Hard Friction)
Stag Reel (Stag Homme)
Summer Recruits (Active Duty)
That 70’s Gay Porn Movie (Randy Blue)

Performer of the Year
Dean Flynn
Kyle King
Steve Cruz
Tony Buff
Wilfried Knight

Web categories

Best Affiliate Program
Buddy Profits
C1R Affiliate Program
Kinky Dollars
Video Secrets

Best Blog/Gossip Site
Gay.Fleshbot.com
Queerclick.com
TheSword.com
TowleRoad.com

Best Genre Site
AdultSourceMedia.com (computer-generated animation)
AthleticModelGuild.com (classic content)
I’mAMarriedMan.com (straight guys)
JizzAddiction.com (cumshots)
UKNakedMen.com (uncut men)

Best Live Webcam/Webshow
Active Duty LIVE (ActiveDuty.com)
Cam4.com
CameraBoys.com
Hot House Dungeon LIVE! (Dungeon.HotHouse.com/live)
Live & Raw (LiveAndRaw.com)

Best Porn Star Site
BrentEverett.com
CollinONeal.com
StagHomme.com
TheNewBrentCorrigan.com

Best Web-Based Marketing/Promotion
Athletic Model Guild
Channel 1 Releasing
Jet Set Men
Lucas Entertainment

Web Performer of the Year
Brent Corrigan
Brent Everett
Damien Cross and Francesco D’Macho
Kayden Saylor
Tommy Defendi

Website of the Year
CockBoys.com
HardFriction.com
RandyBlue.com
StagHomme.com
Suite703.com
UKNakedMen.com