The 1997 MTV Europe Music Awards were held at The Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands on 6 November 1997 and were hosted by Ronan Keating. The Prodigy were the big winners of the night winning three awards including Best Video.

Winners are in bold text.

• U2 — "Mofo"
• Björk — "Bachelorette"
• Spice Girls — "Spice Up Your Life"
• Skunk Anansie — "Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)"
• LL Cool J — "Phenomenon"
• Blackstreet (featuring Slash) — "Fix"
• Jon Bon Jovi — "Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town"
• Aerosmith — "Pink / Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)"
• Backstreet Boys — "As Long as You Love Me / Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
• Jovanotti — "L'ombelico del mondo"

• Dennis Hopper — introduced U2
• Alicia Silverstone — presented Best Dance
• Backstreet Boys — presented Best Male
• Tony Mortimer and Karen Mulder — presented Best Rock
• Stephen Dorff and Saffron — presented Best Song
• Missy Elliott and David Arquette — presented Best Rap
• Louise and Mark Owen — presented Best Female
• Peter Andre and Eternal — presented Best Alternative
• Dennis Hopper — presented Free Your Mind Award
• Caprice Bourret and Steven Tyler — presented Best Group
• Nina Persson, Peter Svensson and Katja Schuurman — presented MTV Select
• Robbie Williams and Gena Lee Nolin — presented Best New Act
• Shola Ama and MC Solaar — presented Best R&B
• Prince Naseem and Björk — presented Best Live Act
• Hanson — presented Best Video

• 1997 MTV Video Music Awards

• Nominees