The 12th AVN Awards ceremony, organized by Adult Video News (AVN) took place on January 7, 1995, at Bally's Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada beginning at 7:45 p.m. PST / 10:45 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AVN presented AVN Awards (commonly referred to as the Oscars of porn) in 89 categories honoring the movies released during the period December 1, 1993 to November 30, 1994. The ceremony was produced by Gary Miller, Mark Stone and Marco Polo. Actor Steven St. Croix hosted the show for the first time, with co-hosts Dyanna Lauren and Tera Heart.
Michael Ninn's Sex won nine awards, including Best Film. Other winners included Dog Walker and Shame with five each. Flashpoint and Idol Country were the top gay movies with four trophies apiece.
The nominees for the 12th AVN Awards were announced at the AVN nominations luncheon 30 days prior to the awards ceremony. Dog Walker and Michael Ninn's Sex earned the most nominations with fourteen. They were the most nominated movies since the awards began in 1984. Shame, an avant-garde western, earned ten nominations while Body & Soul and The Dinner Party had nine apiece.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on January 7, 1995. John Leslie won best director in both the film and the video categories, the first time that had happened. He joined previous winners Cecil Howard and Henri Pachard as the only people to have won three best director awards. Ashlyn Gere won Best Actress in both the film and the video categories, just as she had done two years earlier. Asia Carrera became the first person to win the AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year in her first year in the industry. Kylie Ireland was crowned Starlet of the Year.
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().
These awards were also announced at the awards show, in two winners-only segments read by T. T. Boy, Dyanna Lauren and Tera Heart. Some of the gay awards were announced by Gender and Chris Green.
GAY AWARDS:
AVN Hall of Fame inductees for 1995 were: Robert Bullock, Karen Dior, Chi Chi LaRue, Scotty Fox, Ryan Idol, Sean Michaels, Kelly Nichols, Nikki Randall, Jim South, Sheri St. Clair, Samantha Strong
The following five movies received the most nominations:
The following ten movies received multiple awards:
The following individuals, in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers or magical acts. The show's trophy girls were Lexus Locklear and Lisa Ann.
Actor Steven St. Croix hosted the show for the first time following a three-year stint by actor Randy West. His co-host for the first half of the show was Dyanna Lauren while Tera Heart co-hosted the last half of the show.
Midway through the show, AVN executive editor Gene Ross introduced a montage of scenes of humorous moments from a variety of movies, "Great Moments in Adult Video History", featuring actor Randy West and dozens of others.
Several other people were involved with the production of the ceremony. Gary Miller and Mark Stone served as producer and director for the show while Marco Polo served as director of the broadcast. Stone also served as musical director.
There were several new categories for this year's awards show, including: Best Ethnic-Themed Video, Best Special Effects, the Hot Vidéo Award (Best European Release), Most Outrageous Sex Scene and a couple more awards in gay categories.
John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut was announced as the movie with the most sales and also the most rentals over the 12 months.
A VHS videotape of the show was also published and sold by VCA Pictures, which had hardcore clips of the winning movies interspersed with the awards presentations. A softcore version was made available on VHS for promotional purposes by NightVision.
The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Erotic X-Film Guide called the show "a gala, star-studded event equal in glitz and glamor to any mainstream film awards show". However, Oui magazine and Adult Cinema Review said the video montage didn't work and some of the other entertainment was long, boring and tedious.
AVN publisher Paul Fishbein shared a moment of remembrance for industry performers who died over the past 12 months:
The wrong winner was announced at the show. Adult Video News magazine corrected the mistake: "A program misprint and the fact that Tammi Ann's name was inadvertently dropped, might have caused some confusion in this category. Buttslammers 3 was announced from the program dais, however Buttslammers 4 is the official winner."