| Premios MTV Latinoamérica | |
| Awarded For: | Best in music |
| Presenter: | MTV |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Year2: | 2009 |
| Next: | MTV MIAW Awards |
The Premios MTV Latinoamérica (formerly MTV Video Music Awards Latin America; VMALAs) were the Latin American version of the Video Music Awards. They were established in 2002 to celebrate the top music videos of the year in Latin America and the world. They are presented annually and broadcast live on MTV Networks Latin America. Until 2004, all the VMALAs were held in Miami. The 2005 edition was the first one planned to be held outside the United States, but the show was cancelled (see below). The 2006 VMALAs (Premios MTV Latinoamérica) were held in Mexico City, and therefore were the first ones to actually be celebrated in Latin America. In 2010 the awards were permanently cancelled.
The statues given to winners of the award are called "Lenguas" because the statue is of a tongue. This is because, according to MTV, "the tongue (Spanish language) is what brings all Latin America together as a whole".
Created in 2002, the VMALAs were held in the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami Beach, Florida until 2004. Sylvia Villagran was the live announcer. In 2005 the awards were to be held Wednesday, October 19 at the Xcaret Park's Great Tlachco Theater in Playa del Carmen (close to Cancún), Quintana Roo, Mexico, for the first time in a different location since their creation. However, due to the approach of Hurricane Wilma towards the Mexican Riviera Maya, the show was moved from October 20 to the 19th, but it was eventually postponed. The date was then moved again, this time to December 22.A couple of months later, MTV decided that it was not feasible to have the show on the aforementioned scheduled date. Instead, the awards were given out on a 1/2 hour special where the winners received their awards after having practical jokes played on them (in a Punk'd style). Would-be hosts Molotov hosted this special and played live on a public concert in Playa del Carmen. Another special aired that same day with some of the winners performing. Miranda! played from their studio in Argentina. Two songs from Juanes's concert in Buenos Aires were also filmed by MTV for this special, and Panda and Reik also performed from MTV's studios in Mexico City. Another half-hour special was broadcast that day showing how the show was supposed to happen and the reaction of the artists and MTV's workers after they found out about its cancellation. The 2005 edition would have included performances by Shakira, Sean Paul, My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, Ricky Martin, Simple Plan, Miranda!, Babasónicos, Belinda, and Good Charlotte.
On July 21 MTV Latin America announced that the 2006 ceremonies would be held on 19 October 2006 in Palacio de los Deportes indoor arena in Mexico City. Also, MTV announced that the name of the awards would be changed from Video Music Awards Latin America to Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Awards Latin America).http://www.mtvla.com/news/articles/1537063/20060725/index.jhtml?headlines=true The nominees for this year's awards were announced on September 4, introducing 3 new categories: Promising Artist, Breakthrough Artist, and Song of the Year (the only category with nominees in both English and Spanish). Also, Best Solo Artist again replaced Best Male and Female, while the award for Best International Hip-Hop/R&B Artist will not be handed out. It also appeared that the ceremony returned in style after the previous year's ceremony was cancelled in 2005 due to Hurricane Wilma and all of the presenters for the 2006 ceremony apologized to viewers during the broadcast for such, and, for the first time, viewers would be able to vote for the Best Independent Artist award, but a few days later, the category was taken completely off the voting list, which meant that its inclusion on it was an error by MTV. Also, MTV Tr3s will be handing out for the first time ever its own Viewer's Choice Award during their U.S. simulcast of the event. The following years the event was held in Mexico too (Mexico City in 2007 and Guadalajara, Jalisco in 2008).
In 2009 the event was held in three cities in different dates (September 30 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; October 5 in Mexico City, Mexico; October 11 in Bogotá, Colombia) and broadcast live in Los Angeles on October 15. In 2010 the awards were permanently cancelled and replaced by the MTV World Stage Mexico.
| Year | Date | Host city | Venue | Host(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | October 24 | Miami Beach, United States | Jackie Gleason Theatre | Diego Luna and Mario Pergolini |
| 2003 | October 23 | Diego Luna | ||
| 2004 | October 21 | Paulina Rubio | ||
| 2005 | December 22 | Playa del Carmen, Mexico | Xcaret Park, Teatro Gran Tlachco | Molotov |
| 2006 | October 19 | Mexico City, Mexico | Palacio de los Deportes | Molotov and Ana de la Reguera |
| 2007 | October 18 | Diego Luna | ||
| 2008 | October 16 | Guadalajara, Mexico | Telmex Auditorium | No official host. |
| 2009 | October 15 | |||
| Mexico City | Hipódromo de las Américas | Residente and Nelly Furtado | ||
| Buenos Aires, Argentina | Espacio Darwin | |||
| Bogotá, Colombia | Corferias | |||
| Los Angeles, United States | Gibson Amphitheatre | |||
| 2010-2012 | Replaced with MTV World Stage Mexico concerts | |||
| 2013 | Replaced with MTV Millennial Awards | |||
| Artist | Awards | |
|---|---|---|
| Shakira | 12 | |
| Juanes | 9 | |
| Panda | 8 |
Like the MTV Europe Music Awards and the MTV Asia Awards, the VMALAs also hand out its regional categories. These regions, however, have been under constant changes and renaming. Here's how each region was perceived year by year:
2002:
2003–2009: