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The 2015 AfterEllen Visibility Award Winners

After tallying close to 500,000 votes, we are ready to honor the winners of this year’s AfterEllen 2015 Visibility Awards. The nominees and winners were all chosen by readers, who filled in their favorites first and later voted from the top six or seven choices in each category.

What’s most interesting to see is how many new faces popped up in categories previously dominated by shows that are still on air, like Faking It and Lost Girl. Web personalities were also high in favor, taking wins in categories that aren’t relegated to the internet alone. Could it be that internet fame makes it easier to mobilize fans, or that YouTube stars are the new generation of true celebrity?

Still, some favorites from years past remain or resurface, and the surprises are hopefully as fun for you to read as they are for us to reveal.

Thanks for voting in this year’s AfterEllen Visibility Awards!

While there’s a strong dose of drama in this Netflix series, Orange is the New Black provides LGBT women with enough laughs to dominate as Favorite TV Comedy after losing to Faking It last year. Perhaps it was the addition of the Time Hump Chronicles in Season 3 that solidified things.

A new addition in 2015, Clarke and Lexa’s relationship had queer viewers tuned into Season 2 of the CW series, and loving every second of the dystopic drama. Like last year’s winner, Lost Girl, The 100 is unafraid to have their main female character be bisexual and better for it.

Tatiana Maslany plays several of our favorite television characters on Orphan Black, so it’s natural she’d take home this win. We’re also so thankful and relieved Cosima survived Season 2.

Another new addition in 2015, out Carmilla star Natasha Negovanlis dominated in a category that had a ton of competition. The star of the Sapphic vampire web series even beat out last year’s winner, Amy Raudenfeld of Faking It.

Natasha’s chemistry with on-screen lover Elise Bauman ensured that Hollstein (aka Carmilla and Laura) would win Favorite Fictional Couple. The will-they/won’t-they element to their relationship has Creampuffs clinging to every new episode for the shared moments between Carmilla‘s central pair.

Top Chef continues to deliver with talented cheftestants season after season, and 2015 was no different. Melissa King fared well in Boston, while current star Karen Akunowicz is killing it as a queer femme food master on Top Chef: California.

Hannah Hart‘s My Drunk Kitchen helped her to become a household name with queer women, and it’s all based on her enigmatic and optimistic personality. With movies, books and other projects in the works, the out YouTube personality is poised to continue her reign as someone that brings people joy just by being herself.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in the lesbian-themed period drama with a happy ending, and the story having been written and adapted by lesbian women ensured we would fall for it without fail. Even though Carol has yet to open in every city across the nation, the film has made a powerful splash with critics and at the box office. Expect it to win even more awards in 2016.

Ellen Page is the epitome of out and proud in 2015, and her push to get the lesbian-themed feature Freeheld made for the big screen can not be understated. Ellen’s willingness to be open about who she is and want to mix the personal with political has made us even bigger fans than we were before. (Did you see her take on Ted Cruz for her new VICE show? We can’t wait for Gaycation!)

Carmilla is proof that new twists on classic characters and themes can triumph in today’s times. We’ve seen so many takes on vampires in the last decade that the show could have easily been discarded as a latecomer to the Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries craze, but instead, creators Ellen Simpson and Jordan Hall spun together the world of a millennial, video blogging co-ed who is quite taken with her new fang-toting roommate. Alongside their friends and foes, Hollstein helped to win the show Best Web Series for the second year in a row.

Season 3 of Orange is the New Black was a turning pointing for Piper and Alex, whose relationship is ultimately threatened by Piper’s panty business and the appearance of Stella (Ruby Rose). But the early-on “hate sex” Pipex engaged in really had queer women tuned in and turned on.

The bisexual, biracial electro-pop star has been winning over audiences with her androgynous style and feel-good vibes, and queer women are certainly not immune to Halsey‘s charms. Could Ruby Rose be among them?

Musician/actress Hayley Kiyoko‘s video for “Girls Like Girls” was the far-and-away winner for Best Music Video this year for her nuanced story of a young woman in love with her best friend. The song is pretty awesome, too.

Maria Bello‘s book Whatever…Love is Love scored high marks for its originality, unabashed honesty and insight into the bad assery behind one of our favorite actors. While not so concerned with labels, Maria also discusses their importance and has actively become involved in LGBT advocacy since coming out in 2014.

Fans of Stevie Boebi flocked to AfterEllen to vote for their favorite YouTube star, winning her Best Tweeter for tweets about her videos, her girlfriend, her cats and other observations made under her handle @Sassibob.

Model/actress Cara Delevingne shares as many funny memes or goofy moments as she does sexy photos and wry observations on her Instagram. Anything goes under her IG bio: “Don’t worry, be happy. Embrace your weirdness. STOP LABELLING, START LIVING.”

Carmilla star Elise Bauman wins the honor for her love of the LGBT community, and fans are thrilled she’ll be playing gay again in the upcoming film Almost Adults. Did we mention her best friend will be played by none other than Natasha Negovanlis?

It’s no surprise that 2015’s biggest and best moment was when the Supreme Court of the United States decided same-sex marriage should be made legal. It was a huge legislative win for the entire LGBT community and signified a sea change for even more positive moves for equality in the years to come.

Beauty and fashion vlogger Ingrid Nilsen shared an emotional moment with viewers when she came out as gay in 2015. Since then, it’s been revealed that she’s dating fellow YouTube personality Hannah Hart and the two have delighted us by popping up on each other’s videos and Instagram feeds.

The British wives create YouTube videos about their relationship, ranging in topics from sex to bacon to surviving the apocalypse. Rose Ellen Dix and Rosie Spaughton are open books and unabashed oversharers, and their fans love them for it.

After helping to secure a World Cup win for her team, soccer fans watched as pro soccer player Abby Wambach ran to find her wife and kiss her in celebration. The moment was huge for visibility in sports, making Abby’s recent retirement even more bittersweet. Even though she’s taking time off to build a family, we’re certain we’ll continue to hear from Abby in 2016 and beyond.

In 2015, Ellen DeGeneres kicked off the 13th season of her multi-award winning talk show, which is now just one of the projects she’s had her hands in this year. Ellen also launched her own home and lifestyle brand, ED, and served as executive producer on three new television shows (Ellen’s Design Challenge, Repeat After Me and One Big Happy). As the most visible and successful lesbian in the world, Ellen continues to be a positive public depiction of a happy gay woman who can win over housewives, politicians and even the most homophobic of hearts and minds.

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