MTV Video Music Awards

A MTV Video Music Award, also called a VMA, is awarded by the cable network MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. First awarded at the end of the summer of 1984, and originally as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category), the MTV Video Music Awards have often been called the "Oscars for youth", an acknowledgment of the Awards ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year. By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award. They are presented annually, and broadcast live on MTV. The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV.