If the more than 110 (!) categories in the AVN Awards devoted to the production of adult videos, only a handful of these specifically reward the efforts of performers in the so-called all-girl realm. Given the continuing growth of popularity in all-female erotica, AVN decided it’s time to redress this imbalance with the addition of a new category.

The basic criterion of eligibility for nomination in the All-Girl Performer of the Year category is to have released only girl/girl scenes during the awards eligibility period. That requirement barred a couple of strong contenders who happened to have done the odd boy/girl scene during 2012-2013, but there remained more than enough candidates to make up a full slate of talented, energetic and sensuous woman-loving women.

Elle Alexandra

Lithe redhead Elle Alexandra worked as a commercial print model before moving over to the adult entertainment industry. Since her debut in 2011, she has appeared in fetish, solo and girl/girl videos for various companies, including FM Concepts, Shane’s World, Kick Ass Pictures, Reality Kings, and, of course, Girlfriends Films. She also can be seen in Meow 3 (Jennaration X/Jules Jordan), director Jenna Haze’s all-girl series. Alexandra has also done nude modeling for X-Art, Reality Kings, and Nubiles.net, and has been a Cyber Girl for Playboy.com and was Twistys Treat of the Month for May 2013.

Lily Cade

Striking in appearance with pale-white skin, natural red hair in a casual, almost unkempt Dennis the Menace bob and a natural curvy figure, Lily Cade started performing on camera in 2009. The strictly girl/girl performer is also a gold star lesbian offstage, who married wife Sten in 2008 in the pre-Proposition 8 same-sex marriage window. Her nose-to-the-grindstone attitude (“I like to work”) has pushed her into directing and producing for Filly Films, while continuing an on-camera presence as a chameleon-like performer: In her scenes she can play coquettish or wanton, presenting the tender seductress or the hard butch on the prowl with equal effectiveness.

Cade has previously been nominated for AVN Awards for 2011 and 2012.

Shyla Jennings

A petite brunette, Shyla Jennings was born in Germany but now calls the U.S. home. Since entering the industry in 2010, she has remained strictly a girl/girl and solo performer, and much of her best work has been shot by Girlfriends Films. Among the series she has starred in are Net Skirts, Lesbian Seductions, Lesbian House Hunters, Women Seeking Women and Road Queen—all from Girlfriends.

A favorite of both adult critics and adult directors, Jennings’ work also resonates with the fans. In February 2011, her movie Poor Little Shyla (another Girlfriends production) was deemed the most successful video-on-demand release ever for HotMovies.com.

This past year she’s made the rounds in many well-known girl/girl series, including We Live Together (Reality Kings), Molly’s Life (Muffia) and Hot and Mean (Brazzers). (Photo courtesy Sweetheart Video/Mile High Media).

Justine Joli

Statuesque redhead Justine Joli started as a nude model for men’s magazines, including Hustler andPenthouse, where she was Pet of the Month for September 2007. She also appeared on such websites as Danni’s Hard Drive and Matt’s Models. She shot her first scene for Andrew Blake under the name “Justine” before adopting the name Justine Joli. She works girl/girl exclusively, and has been quoted as saying “I’m not comfortable doing boy/girl.”

On the mainstream side, the multiple AVN Award nominee has acted in an off-Broadway play about Roman emperor Caligula, Caligula Maximus, in 2010, and also appeared in the mainstream blaxpoltation parody film Black Dynamite.

Malena Morgan

Florida-born Malena Morgan went to modeling school as a teen and came to Los Angeles to pursue a career in adult at age 20. After initially establishing herself as a nude webcam model, Morgan moved to fetish, girl/girl and solo videos for companies including FM Concepts and Girlfriends Films. As a nude model, she has appeared in various magazines, including Cheri, Swank, Barely Legal and Club International, and was Penthouse Pet of the Month and the cover girl for November 2011, soon after appearing as Twistys Treat of the Month for September 2011.

Prinzzess

Born in Florida and raised in Belize, Prinzzess returned to Florida and started nude modeling upon reaching age 18, including a turn as Penthouse Pet for October 2004, and she moved to performing soon after that. Now 28, she has been a contract player for Girlfriends Films since 2009 and has performed in some 100 scenes for the company, while also maintaining a nude modeling career with folios at Playboy, Twistys, and Babes.com. She also has an active feature dancing career. She has only worked on-camera with women, and has described herself as “99 percent lesbian”: “When I’m in a crowd I’ll notice women I’m attracted to before I’ll notice that there are hot men around. So I don’t know exactly if this makes me more bi, or lesbian, but I’m definitely NOT straight.”

She has previously been nominated for AVN Awards for 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Sammie Rhodes

After starting as an all-round performer in 2004, Sammie Rhodes decided to switch to girl/girl only after about a year. Rhodes told AVN that when she did boy/girl scenes, she was always sore, exhausted and unable to have sex in her personal life.

“It’s not like you’re having sex at home where you do anything you want. You have to perform and it’s hard work,” she said.

She has appeared in more than 300 titles, including nine editions of Her First Lesbian Sex for Pink Visual and for companies ranging alphabetically from Adam & Eve to Zero Tolerance. On the mainstream side, she appeared in the music video for the song “Gives You Hell” by The Inevitable Backlash in 2010. She won an AVN Award in 2008 for Best All-Girl Sex Scene, Video for Babysitters from Digital Playground.

Raven Rockette

Beneath Raven Rockette’s quiet, almost diffident demeanor is the soul of a hardcore rock & roller. Starting her adult career soon after her 18th birthday, she was making plans to add music and mainstream acting to her résumé before her first year was over. Born in Los Angeles, raised in Las Vegas, Rockette stands 5-foot-4 with a 34D-26-34 figure.

“I absolutely love [working in adult],” Rockette told AVN. “I have so much fun. I love the people, I love being on set, I love working, all the lovely girls I get to work with. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a life-changing experience, for the best. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my entire life, or felt more at ease.”

One standout performance is her starring role in Gia: Lesbian Supermodel, directed by Nica Noelle for Hard Candy Films/AEBN, for which she was nominated by AVN for Best Actress. She’s also in the running for AVN’s Best New Starlet honors.

Layla Rose

Busty and petite Layla Rose started performing on camera in 2010, doing some 50 girl/girl, solo and fetish scenes for a list of companies that has included Digital Playground, Filly Films, Diabolic Video Productions, Lethal Hardcore, Girlfriends Films and Jules Jordan Video, where she was featured inMeow 3 this year. As a nude model, she has been on the Playboy Cyber Club and Digital Desire websites.

Spencer Scott

The number of Playboy Playmates who have crossed over into hardcore adult is very few, notably Miss April 1986 Teri Weigel. The latest addition to this group is Spencer Scott, Miss October 2007, who started girl/girl performing in Hustler Video’s 2011 release Barely Legal 123. She followed this with performances in videos ranging from I Kiss Girls 3 for Girlfriends Films to two appearances in the Hot and Mean series from Brazzers. She was also Twistys Treat of the Month for September 2012.

Sinn Sage

In the adult business since 2002, this brunette powerhouse revs up the energy level in whatever scene she’s cast in. Though she’s strictly a girl/girl performer, Sage works for a wide range of studios; in addition to all-girl specialists such as Girlfriends Films, Sweetheart Video, Girl Candy Films and Addicted 2 Girls, she’s also often done work with Evil Angel directors, particularly Belladonna. In 2012 she made her directorial debut, helming Sinn Sage’s A-Cup Lesbians for Filly Films. At last year’s AVN Awards Show she took the stage with Dani Daniels to share the honors for Best Girl/Girl Scene, delighting the crowd when she planted an enthusiastic kiss on her co-star.

Angela Sommers

Starting her adult career in her mid-20s, later than many of her colleagues, Angela Sommers has made her mark largely with Girlfriends Films titles. More than half of her performances are under the Girlfriends Films label—with roles in such series as Girls in White, The Creepers Family andNewswomen—and she’s also worked the studio’s booth at such shows as the 2013 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. In addition, she has made nude modeling appearances on the Playboy Cyber Club, and was named the Twistys Treat of the Month for August 2011 and Penthouse Pet for May 2012.

Celeste Star

A Penthouse Pet of the Month for July 2005, perky Celeste Star has been a staple of the all-girl scene since 2004. A perennial AVN Awards nominee, she has shown her appeal by being in the running for honors in solo, tease and sex scene categories. She has proven to be a versatile actress as well, appearing in various features—most memorably in Cherry (Digital Playground), Tuff Love (Wicked Pictures) and Revenge of the Petites (AMKingdom). Star did some boy/girl scenes when she first started, but it’s clear she’s right at home working with girls. “I love the softness in a woman’s touch, the softness of their skin,” she says.

Sovereign Syre

A former nude model based in New York City, Sovereign Syre spent her first six months in the business shooting for director Nica Noelle. “I was very lucky to have people mentor me the whole way through,” Syre says. “I had thought about doing porn before, but I didn’t know people made the type of porn that she makes. I felt Nica would take care of me like no on else would.”

Syre’s first scene came in My Sister Celine with Dylan Ryan, which Noelle made for Sweetheart Video. Soon after that Syre worked at the director’s new company, Girl Candy Films, where she’s appeared in all three installments of the popular Lesbian Guidance Counselor series. Syre also did a very memorable turn this year in Dana Vespoli’s She’s Come Undone (Evil Angel).

Taylor Vixen

Debuting in Penthouse magazine’s 40th anniversary issue, Taylor Vixen immediately became a favorite among readers—not surprising given her naturally busty figure and pretty face. In short order, she was named 2010’s Penthouse Pet of the Year.

At the same time, Vixen emerged in adult video as a highly in-demand girl/girl performer, earning an AVN Best All-Girl Couples Sex Scene nomination for an interlude with Franziska Facella in Girlfriends Films’ Woman Seeking Women 55. Since then she’s been even busier—it would be easier to list the studios where she hasn’t worked than the ones where she has. Recently she was back at Girlfriends Films, where she appeared in the return of a fan favorite series in Pin-up Girls 8.