Katy Perry, Tim Tebow, Taylor Lautner, Big Time Rush, Selena Gomez, Kristen Stewart, Victorious, LMFAO, SpongeBob SquarePants, Justin Bieber, Puss in Boots and More Win Coveted Orange Blimps at Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards

LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Mega-stars including Katy Perry, Tim Tebow, Taylor Lautner, Big Time Rush, Selena Gomez, Kristen Stewart, LMFAO and Justin Bieber reigned as this year's favorites, winning top honors at Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards live telecast, Saturday, March 31, 8-9:30 p.m. (ET/tape delayed for West Coast).  Hosted by international superstar and 10-time KCA winner Will Smith, the awards were broadcast from the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles where kids' top choices in television, movies, music and sports were revealed through a flying blimp, silver robot and sword swallower.  Smith made an aerial entrance onto the venue by parachuting down from the official KCA blimp, a 246-foot orange airship situated above the arena.  After rappelling to the stage and deactivating a booby trap set by a mysterious Creepy Voice determined to stop the show, Smith kicked off the silver anniversary celebration with a performance of "Can U Handle This" and balloons filled with confetti and slime.

First Lady Michelle Obama made her first-ever appearance at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, presenting Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Taylor Swift with this year's The Big Help Award in recognition of her extensive philanthropic endeavors, including her work with tornado and flood survivors in the United States.  The Big Help Award recognizes individuals who take actions to better the world and whose significant impact on their community has inspired kids to do the same. 

The star-studded event got off to an immediate sticky start with Halle Berry's surprise sliming in her audience seat.  Looking good in green, Lautner received the ultimate gooey prize for accepting Smith's challenge to a push-up contest, while presenter Chris Colfer was doused in slime by an exploding blimp at the podium.  In an epic battle that had the giants of wrestling literally swimming in the goo, The Big Show took down The Miz in the inaugural KCA Slime Wrestling World Championships.  Hosted by Nick's Jeff Sutphen with WWE superstar Santino Marella serving as referee, the showdown was set in a special ring that slimed the audience each time one of them hit the ropes or the corner posts.  Much to his disappointment, Cee Lo Green was not so green after being revealed as the Creepy Voice who tried to ruin the show.  Instead, he got "ice cream sundae'd" by Smith who said being slimed was an honor and his behavior was unslimeable.  Bieber, the mystery celebrity who won the live viewer vote during the show, received both a blimp and a slime bath as he and Smith closed the show in signature green style with slime cannons in the grand finale. 

Kids paid tribute to their favorites by casting over 220 million votes March 1-March 31 in 20 categories. In addition to the Kids' Choice Awards website on Nick.com, families were able to vote via the Nick mobile website (wap.nick.com) and through a KCA app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod.  Fans were also able to vote for their favorite stars using a Facebook application on the Nickelodeon Facebook page.  Users voted from a tab on the page and, for the first time ever, the entire voting experience could be embedded directly into Facebook wall posts.  Also new this year, fans were able to vote for their favorite nominees on Twitter through the use of custom hash tags and SMS subscribers could vote on a category per day for the three weeks leading up to the event.

Orange blimps were presented to Adam Sandler for Favorite Movie Actor; Kristen Stewart for Favorite Movie Actress; Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked for Favorite Movie and Puss in Boots for Favorite Animated Movie. Taylor Lautner won top honors for Favorite Buttkicker and Katy Perry took home the blimp for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie for her role of Smurfette in The Smurfs.  In the television categories, Favorite TV Show went to Victorious; Favorite Reality Show to Wipeout; Favorite Cartoon to SpongeBob SquarePants; Favorite TV Actor to Jake Short; Favorite TV Actress to Selena Gomez and Funniest TV Sidekick to Jennette McCurdy.  In music, top honors went to Selena Gomez for Favorite Female Singer; Big Time Rush for Favorite Music Group and Justin Bieber for Favorite Male Singer; while the track "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO won for Favorite Song.  Most valuable players Tim Tebow and Danica Patrick won for Favorite Male Athlete and Favorite Female Athlete, respectively.  The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series garnered Favorite Book and Just Dance 3 won for Favorite Videogame.

Global superstar Katy Perry took home a blimp and made her KCA performance debut, rocking the stage with "Part of Me," off her just-released special edition CD Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection.  Later in the show, international pop sensation One Direction -- Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan -- gave a scream-worthy performance of their hit single "What Makes You Beautiful."  The group will also perform the song in a special guest appearance on an upcoming episode of iCarly, "iGo One Direction," premiering Saturday, April 7, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). 

The star-studded telecast featured additional celebrity participants, including: Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Miranda Cosgrove, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Jaden Smith, Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Robert Downey Jr., Heidi Klum, Chris Rock, Big Time Rush, Keke Palmer, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Cody Simpson, Jennette McCurdy, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Victoria Justice, Nolan Gould and many others.

For the first time ever, E! broadcast live from the Galen Center during an hour-long Live From the Red Carpet pre-show featuring celebrity arrivals and interviews with the nominees, with select moments airing on Nickelodeon.  Hosted by Ross Mathews and Kelly Osbourne, the coverage included a musical performance by Keke Palmer and Max Schneider (How to Rock) of "Me and You Against the World," an original song from Nick's upcoming original TV movie Rags. 

In celebration of the KCA milestone, Nickelodeon upped the digital presence of the 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards across a variety of platforms that included cross-platform interactive experiences, before, during and after the big show, on Nickelodeon websites, Twitter, Facebook, and mobile and iOS devices.  Leading into the awards, special guest correspondents Daniella Monet (Victorious), Jeff Sutphen (BrainSurge), and Zach Sang captured all the action on the orange carpet in a live stream on Nick.com and multiple platforms -- Facebook, Android and iPhone smart phones and iPads.  During the Countdown to Kids' Choice pre-show, kids were able to participate in the experience with total access to live event coverage, including an exclusive performance by Keke Palmer of "Stand Out," another original song from Rags.  Exclusive Nick cameras offered multiple viewing angles and were featured alongside celebrity tweets, interactive polls, real-time updates and photos from the orange carpet and backstage.  Fans at home were able to submit questions to the pre-show hosts and saw their poll results displayed on large screens on the orange carpet.  Coverage during the event included a live backstage companion stream and interviews during the main show, live on the app and on Nick.com.  After the show, fans can relive their favorite show moments by watching video highlights from the live show, flipping through orange carpet, live event and performance photos and read through recaps. 

This year, kids not only picked the winners, but they got to help host Smith make this awards show the biggest, messiest and slimiest show ever, by collecting goo for the Global Slime Collection via a gamefied digital experience in the weeks leading up to the big show.  Through brand-new iPad, iPhone, iPod and iOS apps, and the KCA website, kids were tasked to find slime hidden throughout the photo galleries, news and videos, which was then used throughout the show.

The apps and website featured clips and photos from past Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards shows, along with promotional spots, dedicated information pages on Smith and nominees, a KCA news blog, trivia, personality quizzes and two new KCA-themed online games.  Nickelodeon's virtual worlds and websites -- Monkey Quest, Neopets and Petpet Park--also launched exclusive KCA-themed promotions and games.

The live broadcast of Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards was simulcast in Times Square and encores Saturday, March 31 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nick at Nite and Sunday, April 1, at 12 p.m. (ET/PT).  Replays of the awards will air on TeenNick Sunday, April 1, at 8:30 p.m. (ET) and on Nicktoons Monday, April 2, at 8 p.m. (ET).  Additionally, a half-hour special, KCA: One More Slime!, featuring highlights and exclusive bonus footage from the big show, will premiere Tuesday, April 3, at 6 p.m. (ET/PT) with encores on Thursday, April 5, at 4 p.m. (ET/PT) and Saturday, April 7, at 1 p.m. (ET/PT). 

Presenting sponsors of Nickelodeon's 2012 Kids' Choice Awards are General Mills, Hasbro, Honda and Target.  Associate sponsors are Bounty™, McDonald's, Nintendo and Skechers.

The following are Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards winners:

TELEVISION:

Favorite TV Show
Victorious

Favorite Reality Show
Wipeout

Favorite TV Actor
Jake Short (A.N.T. Farm)

Favorite TV Actress
Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place)

Funniest TV Sidekick
Jennette McCurdy (iCarly)

Favorite Cartoon
SpongeBob SquarePants

SPORTS:

Favorite Male Athlete
Tim Tebow

Favorite Female Athlete
Danica Patrick

FILM

Favorite Movie
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Favorite Movie Actor
Adam Sandler (Jack & Jill)

Favorite Movie Actress
Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1)

Favorite Animated Movie
Puss in Boots

Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Katy Perry (The Smurfs)

MUSIC

Favorite Music Group
Big Time Rush

Favorite Male Singer
Justin Bieber

Favorite Female Singer
Selena Gomez

Favorite Song 
"Party Rock Anthem" (by LMFAO)

OTHER CATEGORIES

Favorite Book
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

Favorite Videogame
Just Dance 3

Favorite Buttkicker
Taylor Lautner

Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards will be available on Nickelodeon On Demand beginning Monday, April 2 and KCA: One More Slime! will be available beginning Monday, April 9.

Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards is more global than ever in 2012, seen in over 300 million households around the world.  Within hours of airing live in the United States and Canada, the show will roll out in additional international markets, providing kids around the world the opportunity to tune into their local Nickelodeon channel to enjoy the show faster than ever.  In many international markets, the 2012 KCAs will feature country-specific award categories and nominees, such as Nickelodeon Italia's Favorite Star and Nickelodeon UK's Favorite Show.  Voting for the 2012 KCAs spanned over six continents across 13 localized voting sites in 11 different languages, giving kids practically everywhere the chance to decide who takes home a coveted blimp.

Nickelodeon's 25thAnnual Kids' Choice Awards is produced by Nickelodeon Productions in association with Bob Bain Productions.  Bob Bain, Marjorie Cohn and Paula Kaplan are Executive Producers.  Media outlets can reference the most up-to-date information on Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards by logging onto www.NickKCApress.com.

Nickelodeon, now in its 32nd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids.  It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does.  The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 17 consecutive years.  For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA - News, VIA.B - News).

SOURCE Nickelodeon