Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner dominated 2015 in the modeling world, so it came as a shock to most when Models.com Model of the Year Industry Awards announced that this year's highest honor went to neither of the two, but instead to Anna Ewers. The gorgeous German model is well-deserving of the award, but people were a little shocked to see neither Hadid nor Jenner in that top spot, even though Hadid was listed as runner-up and was crowned the readers' choice Model of the Year with Jenner as the runner-up.
The award winners are determined by votes from 25 top designers, photographers, hair and makeup artists, casting directors and editors, including Love magazine's Katie Grand, French stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, W's Edward Enniful and various other major fashionistas, according to Yahoo Style.
Ewers, 22, was selected as "the singular face that defined the year as a whole with ubiquitous industry demand and presence... via top-tier bookings with the best photographers, stylists and clients earning next-level visibility, making them 2015's foremost star." She's appeared on several major magazine covers and walked the runway for high-fashion brands like Alexander Wang, Tory Burch and Michael Kors.
The awards are broken down into 11 categories: Model of the Year Women, Model of the Year Men, Breakout Star Women, Breakout Star Men, Comeback Star of the Year, Social Media Star Women, Social Media Star Men, Humanitarian, Street Style, Celebrity Model Women and Celebrity Model Male.
This year, Hadid, 20, and Jenner, 19, not only stood out in the Model of the Year category, but dominated the social media category as well. Mormon model Lucky Blue Smith completely took over most of the male categories, while Justin Bieber dominated the celebrity male category. Rihanna and Cara Delevingne were awarded in the celebrity female category and, shockingly, Derek Zoolander won both the industry and readers' choice for Comeback of the Year.
Here are the winners and nominees for the 2015 Models.com Model of the Year Industry Awards:
Model of the Year: Women
Industry's Vote Winner: Anna Ewers
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Gigi Hadid
Readers' Choice Winner: Gigi Hadid
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Kendall Jenner
Nominees: Andreja Pejic, Binx Walton, Grace Hartzel, Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn, Julia Nobis, Karlie Kloss, Lexi Boling, Maartje Verhoef, Natasha Poly
Model of the Year: Men
Industry's Vote Winner: Lucky Blue Smith
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Tim Schuhmacher
Readers' Choice Winner: Lucky Blue Smith
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Adonis Bosso
Nominees: Alessio Pozzi, Ben Allen, Benjamin Eidem, Filip Hrivnak, George Barnett, Jackson Hale, Sang Woo Kim
Breakout Star: Women
Industry's Vote Winner: Lineisy Montero
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Mica Arganaraz
Readers' Choice Winner: Bella Hadid
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Imaan Hammam
Nominees: Anna Cleveland, Aya Jones, Fernanda Ly, Greta Varlese, Molly Bair, Rianne van Rompaey, Sarah Brannon, Stella Lucia, Tami Williams, Vanessa Moody
Breakout Star: Men
Industry's Vote Winner: Jordan Barrett
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Piero Mendez
Readers' Choice Winner: Jordan Barrett
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Sven de Vries
Nominees: Finnlay Davis, Gabriel-Kane Day Lewis, Hamid Onifade, Niels Trispel, Noma Han, Rhys Pickering, Serge Rigvava, Sol Goss
Comeback of the Year
Industry's Vote Winner: Derek Zoolander
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Raquel Zimmermann
Readers' Choice Winner: Derek Zoolander
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Raquel Zimmermann
Nominees: Caroline Ribeiro, Erin O'Connor, Frankie Rayder, Jason Morgan, Meghan Collison, Vivien Solari
Social Media Star: Women
Industry's Vote Winner: Gigi Hadid
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Kendall Jenner
Readers' Choice Winner: Kendall Jenner
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Gigi Hadid
Nominees: Ashley Graham, Bella Hadid, Chrissy Teigen, Emily Ratajkowski, Hari Nef, Jourdan Dunn, Karlie Kloss, Lily Aldridge, Liu Wen, Stella Maxwell, Taylor Hill, Tilda Lindstam
Social Media Star: Men
Industry's Vote Winner: Lucky Blue Smith
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Shaun Ross
Readers' Choice Winner: Lucky Blue Smith
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Francisco Lachowski
Nominees: Adonis Bosso, Andrea Denver, Felix Gesnouin, Garrett Neff, Jordan Berrett, Luka Sabbat, Sup Park
Humanitarian
Industry's Vote Winner: Cameron Russell
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Alek Wek
Readers' Choice Winner: Karlie Kloss
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Alek Wek
Nominees: Jacquelyn Jablonski, Josephine Skriver, Liya Kebede, Natalia Vodianova, Petra Nemcova, Sara Ziff, Toni Garrn
Best Street Style
Industry's Vote Winner: Hanne Gaby Odiele
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Binx Walton
Readers' Choice Winner: Liu Wen
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Binx Walton
Nominees: Adonis Bosso, Armando Cabral, Aymeline Valade, Fei Fei Sun, Lexi Boling, Ming Xi, Paolo Roldan, Sang Woo Kim, Soo Joo Park, Xiao Wen Ju
Celebrity as Model: Women
Industry's Vote Winner: Rihanna
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Jennifer Lawrence
Readers' Choice Winner: Cara Delevingne
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Rihanna
Nominees: Alicia Vikander, Lea Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp, Mia Goth, Nicki Minaj, Willow Smith, Zoe Kravitz
Celebrity As Model: Men
Industry's Vote Winner: Justin Bieber
Industry's Vote Runner-up: Ansel Elgort
Readers' Choice Winner: Justin Bieber
Reader's Choice Runner-up: Ansel Elgort
Nominees: Calvin Harris, Harry Brant, Jack O'Connell, Miles Teller, Rafael Nadal, Sam Smith, Scott Eastwood, Xavier Dolan
