Skateboarding once again packed The Avalon theatre in Hollywood, CA for the 12th annual Transworld Skateboarding Awards. The red carpet was rolled out, the stage was set, and skateboarding's elite graced the LA landmark was their presence. It wasn't just for the awards too. One of the biggest video releases this year Hallelujah was set to premier (there will be a separate post on that, because skateboarding was forever changed last night when that video finished playing).

In a somber moment the wife of former Transworld editor, Eric Stricker, who passed away last year, opened the event with a few words about her late husband. She talked of how much he put into the event, and the fact that he would be happy to know it was still going strong. Stricker was one of the coolest cats in skate media and will always be missed. It was deserving that he had his moment.

The Skateboarding Awards give recognition to individual skaters, skate teams and videos. The two categories I was looking most forward to were Best Street Skater, and the Readers' Choice. I'll start with the best in the streets. In this category, as usual Chris Cole was nominated. He was Thrasher's Skater of the Year this year, and everyone knows about how much he wins. I was just hoping Transworld would veer left and give it to another nominee, Dennis Busentiz, who is one of my favorite skaters to watch. In my opinion he is the definition of a street skateboarder. In the end, Cole has just done too much this year to give it to anyone else, so one more trophy for his mantle. He was not in attendance and Black Box boss, Jamie Thomas, accepted on his behalf.

Now, to the moment I was waiting for most, the announcement of the Readers' Choice winner. Lizard King, who is one of the homies, and has mucho passion was nominated. Early in the night it became obvious that almost everyone of pulling for the king. So when it was announced that Mike Plumb was the 2010 TWS Readers' Choice the place went nuts. Oh yeah, did I mention Mike Plumb also goes by the name most know him as, LIZARD KING! His speech, "I f--king deserve this. Shake Junt!"

Some additional notes: Matt Hensley received the much deserved Legend award, Pat Duffy should get a job on Fuel TV with his great hosting skills, Torey Pudwill was very drunk and that place is big making it very easy to get lost inside (especially when drinking).

Above L to R: Lizard King and DJ Chavez. Photo: Tom Morin

Here's a full rundown of the winners:

Best Rookie
Brandon Westgate

Best Video Part
Grant Taylor

Best Team
Flip

Best Street
Chris Cole

Best Video
Extremely Sorry

TWS Readers' Choice
Lizard King

TWS Legend
Matt Hensley

The crew over at Transworld never disappoints when it comes to their videos, my personal favorite being Modus Operandi. That's why we over here at Grind TV can't wait to check out what TWS, John Holland and Chris Ray have brewing over there. The film is going to be called Hallelujah, and is set to feature a few of the best young guys out there: Torey Pudwill, Tyler Bledsoe, Ryan Decenzo, Pete Eldridge and Taylor Bingaman.

I just talked to Pudwill and Colin McKay the other day, and both of them stressed how much time filming T. Puds has been putting into this video. It's set to premier this summer, so get ready. Here's a little trailer:

The 11th Annual Transworld Skateboarding Awards will go down June 12th at the Avalon in Hollywood. The show is a who's who of skateboarding, with your favorite pros, industry people and entertainers presenting each award. It's like the Grammy's of our industry, just a little a dirtier, drunker and rowdier.

It's going to be cool to see Hasoi get the TWS Legend award, to have been through what he has, and be back slaying pools again, it's just such a remarkable story. Some other areas of interest are going to be: whether or not Silas Baxter-Neal will be able to back up his Thrasher Skater of the Year honors with a TWS Best Street award, the Readers' Choice award because "the people" that make up skateboarding decide it, and the Best Video award because with no Fully Flared hype-machine this year, it's not as obvious.

There will be a live video and photo blog kicking off at 6 pm PST click here to find out more. Also, stay tuned for GrindTV exclusives, because this the event is bound to go off! And the nominees are:

BEST ROOKIE
Andrew Allen
Andrew Brophy
Sean Malto

BEST STREET
Silas Baxter-Neal
Heath Kirchart
Anthony Van Engelen

BEST TEAM
Alien Workshop
Anti Hero
Toy Machine

BEST VIDEO
And Now, TransWorld
Mind Field, Alien Workshop
Ride The Sky, Fallen Footwear

BEST TRANSITION
Rune Glifberg
Peter Hewitt
Matt Mumford

BEST VIDEO PART
David Gravette, And Now
Jake Johnson, Mind Field
Anthony Van Engelen, Mind Field

TWS READERS' CHOICE
Chris Cole
Heath Kirchart
Sean Malto

TWS LEGEND
Christian Hosoi