MTV Europe Music Awards

The MTV Europe Music Awards ("EMAs" or "EMA") are an event presented by MTV Networks Europe which awards prizes to musicians and performers. Since 2007, the winners are chosen by the viewers and fans by visiting the EMAs' website. The first EMAs ceremony was held in 1994 in Berlin, Germany.

Though it was originally conceived as an alternative to the MTV Video Music Awards, the winners and presenters have often been American artists. The MTV Europe Music Awards are held every year in a different country. It has been hosted mostly in the United Kingdom. Since 2011 other worldwide/regional nominations have been added. The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on MTV Europe, MTV Live HD and most of the international MTV channels as well as online.

Host cities

Notable moments

1990s

1994–1999

1994: The first MTV Europe Music Awards in 1994 were held on November 24; five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. George Michael performed "Jesus To A Child" and "Freedom" surrounded by many famous models including Naomi Campbell and Bono received the Free Your Mind Award on behalf of Amnesty International.

MTV Europe

MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on 1 August 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent. Today, the channel only serves a selection of European countries as MTV Networks Europe began to regionalise its network in 1997.

MTV Europe was begun under a co-operative agreement between Viacom and BT, which lasted until 1991 when Viacom took over full ownership. MTV Europe is wholly owned and operated by MTV Networks Europe.

Since its premiere, MTV revolutionized the music industry. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" became embedded in the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and shows, films and books.

1998 MTV Europe Music Awards

The 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards took place in Assago, near Milan, Italy. The ceremony was hosted by former Playboy model, actress and comedian, Jenny McCarthy.

On this year 6 new categories were introduced including the MTV Selects; UK and Ireland, Northern, Central and Southern. The big winner of the night were the Spice Girls and Madonna with two awards. Mel C, alias Sporty Spice, and Emma Bunton, known as Baby Spice, collected the trophy on behalf of the group. On receiving the award, Mel C shouted: "We've done it again". "And a big hello from the other two," she added, referring to Mel B and Victoria Adams, both of whom were pregnant and did not attend the ceremony.

Nominations

Winners are in bold text.

Best Song

Best Video

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions and television shows as a child before signing with Jive Records in 1997. Spears's first and second studio albums, ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), became international successes, with the former becoming the best-selling album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her self-titled third studio album, Britney, and played the starring role in the film Crossroads (2002). She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003), which yielded the worldwide success of the "Toxic" single.

In 2007, Spears's much-publicized personal issues sent her career into hiatus. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released later that year, and spawned hits such as "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me". Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations continued through the following year, at which point she was placed under a still ongoing conservatorship. Spears's sixth studio album, Circus (2008), included global chart-topping lead single "Womanizer". Its supporting tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears was one of the highest-grossing global concert tours in 2009.

MTV Video Music Award

An MTV Video Music Award (commonly abbreviated as a VMA) is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category), the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the "Super Bowl for youth", an acknowledgment of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year. By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award. The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV, and colloquially called a "moonman". The statue was conceived by Manhattan Design—also designers of the original MTV logo—based on the 1981 "Top of the Hour" animation created by Fred Seibert, produced by Alan Goodman, and produced by Buzz Potamkin at Buzzco Associates. The statue is now made by New York firm, Society Awards. Since the 2006 ceremony, viewers are able to vote for their favorite videos in all general categories by visiting MTV's website.