Lady Gaga — trailblazer in yet another pop culture realm! The singer's "Born This Way" won the first-ever Moonman for Best Video With a Message at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday evening.

"I'm really proud of the 'Born This Way' video, and for it to be nominated is an absolute honor," Gaga earlier told MTV News.

The winner of the Best Video With a Message award, devoted to videos where music and social activism unite with positive messages that delve into some of the biggest issues of the day, was announced during the black carpet Pre-Show — just one of a handful of early awards.

Adele won big, taking home three professional awards. She bested Gaga, Katy Perry and Kanye West to win Best Art Direction for "Rolling in the Deep." The Brit chanteuse's video also took Editing (over 'Ye and 30 Seconds to Mars) and Cinematography (over Beyoncé and Eminem). But Beyoncé and Katy didn't head into the Nokia Theatre for the main show empty handed.

Beyoncé nabbed Choreography for "Run the World (Girls)," beating out Gaga's "Judas," Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends" and Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song." Perry, meanwhile, who entered the night as the most-nominated artist, secured Special Effects for "E.T."

"Even teasing people with different images from 'E.T.,' people are so perplexed," Perry told MTV News back in March. "They're like, 'Katy Perry, you're supposed to be Betty Boop! You're supposed to be wearing pink!' It's exciting to be able to push my audience, to be like, 'There's always more, I've got all of this hidden up my sleeve that I've really longed to show people.'"

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards will air live Sunday from Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following the Selena Gomez-hosted pre-show at 8. See the list of nominees, revisit last year's highlights and vote for Best New Artist by visiting VMA.MTV.com.