Topic: MTV Video Music Awards

An MTV Video Music Award (commonly abbreviated as a VMA), is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards[1] (in the video category), the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the "Oscars for youth", an acknowledgment of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year.[2] By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award.[3] The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV. The annual VMA ceremony is usually held in mid-September, and broadcast live on MTV. The first VMA ceremony was held in 1984 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Other VMAs have been held in Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 28, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Overview The VMAs have been a generational pop-cultural annual award show that gathers the most popular bands and artists each year. For years, the show was noteworthy for its live controversial moments (some cut for the re-runs); it quickly gained popularity because of them, rather than the awards given. The show starts with a prestacy-show that can last from 1 to 2 hours. That is followed by the main show which lasts up to two-three hours, and then the post-show.