Las Vegas, NV — Voting is now open for the Second Annual BBW Awards Show, and the first round of the nominees for the “Humanitarian of the Year” award are in.

Nominees include Miss FreudianSlit, Kitty Stryker, Karla Lane, Angela White, Destiny Diaz, HousewifeSwag and April Flores. Each nominee has already received a minimum of 50 votes, but there is still plenty of time for others to also reach the vote milestone before the November cutoff.

Those nominated for the “Humanitarian of the Year” award have been recognized by their fans and industry peers for their efforts to elevate and uplift the BBW community — as well as the world at large.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to even be nominatedfor something as monumental as ‘Humanitarian of the Year,’ but I can’t take the credit for solely representing the BBW community. It’s imperative that I recognize those before me and those alongside me in this journey. Together, we can continue to break the mold,” said Taylor M., known online as HousewifeSwag.

Another nominee, Kitty Stryker, shared, “It feels amazingto be recognized for the work I do. A lot of my personal activism is offline, individual and not photogenic, so it’s often not noticed by the community at large. I’m delighted to be able to help people, whether it be around giving sex work safety advice, serving as a street medic at a protest or helping someone wean off drugs.”

To further give back, the BBW Awards Show has decided to give $1,000 dollars to a charity of the “Humanitarian of the Year” award winner’s choosing. In the event of her winning, HousewifeSwag has chosen thebodypositive.org for their continuous work in ending the harmful consequences of negative body image as her recipient charity. Stryker has actually chosen two recipients.

“If I win, I believe I will donate half the winnings to the Florence Project, who offers free legal services to detained immigrants in Arizona, and the other half to the Degenerates, a trans-centered art collective that also does a lot of community support for LGBTQ folks,” Stryker shared.

The current Humanitarian Award nominees represent a diverse array of performers and personalities within the BBW community, but they all have at least one thing in common: They each have selflessly championed to help sex workers to get the rights and respect they deserve and are, thus, being recognized for their efforts.

“If I win the Humanitarian award, I would love to donate the $1000 to Thorn,” said Destiny Diaz.“Thorn is a digital defender of children. Technology is used to enable slavery, but it can also be used to disable slavery. [Thorn uses] technology to identify and rescue missing and exploited children.”

“As both a sex worker and a mother, this organization hits my heart deep. SESTA/FOSTA is negatively affecting many forms of sex work, both online and off, but it is promoted as a shut down of sex trafficking. SESTA/FOSTA won’tstop sex trafficking or related illegal activity, it will only push it more underground, and make it even more difficult to save and rescue these children. This donation can help fund the development of software that can help identify missing and exploited children, and help make the internet a safer place for children,” Diaz added.

The upcoming BBW Awards Show will be held in Las Vegas, NV on January 22, 2019. More information, including voting information, is here.

Contact Eliza Allure at eliza@elizaallure.com for more event information.