The 15th AVN Awards ceremony, organized by Adult Video News (AVN), took place January 10, 1998 at Caesars Palace, in Paradise, Nevada, U.S. During the show, AVN presented AVN Awards in 54 categories honoring the best pornographic films released between Oct. 1, 1996 and Sept. 30, 1997. The ceremony was produced by Gary Miller and directed by Mark Stone. Comedian Robert Schimmel hosted, with adult film actresses Racquel Darrian and Misty Rain as co-hosts. At a pre-awards cocktail reception held the previous evening, 50 more AVN Awards, mostly for behind-the-scenes achievements, were given out by hosts Nici Sterling and Dave Tyree, however, this event was neither televised nor distributed on VHS tapes as was the main evening's ceremony. Both events included awards categories for gay movies; the final year the show included both gay and heterosexual awards. The gay awards were subsequently spun off into a separate show, the GayVN Awards.

The AVN Awards are film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic films. They are often called the "Oscars of porn".