Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in television, film, music, and sports as voted by viewers worldwide of Nickelodeon networks. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine, a logo outline for much of the network's 1984–2009 era, which also functions as a kaleidoscope.
The show features numerous celebrity guests and musical acts, including live acts. It has also been known to cover people with the network's trademark green slime: since 2002, slime stunts have been incorporated into the show. The animated series SpongeBob SquarePants has won the most KCA awards, with twenty-two overall through the series' run. Individually, Selena Gomez won the most trophies, followed by Adam Sandler, Will Smith, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber. Whoopi Goldberg is the only person to have won a Kids' Choice Award alongside the prevailing "EGOT" combination of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Rosie O'Donnell has hosted the show eight times, followed by Jack Black, as well as Candace Cameron, Whitney Houston, and John Cena.
History
, Albie Hecht, and Fred Seibert created the awards show after Nickelodeon produced a segment called The Big Ballot for the movie review show Rated K: For Kids by Kids in 1987, named for the ballots kids voted with. To vote, the viewers would send in ballots and then before the show, the ballots would be counted and the winners would tape a "thank you" video that would be shown during the program. Goodman, Hecht, and Seibert felt that the network needed a bigger, more exciting platform.Hecht selected the awards logo from a series of network designs created by original logo designers Tom Corey and Scott Nash, overseen by Goodman and Seibert. The award was configured into the current blimp shape/kaleidoscope in 1990. The only change to the award since then has been a change to the embossed logotype on the side of the trophy for 2010 to fit the network's new logo typeface.
As the Internet came into widespread use, the voting finally moved from a combination of 900 number telephone voting and filling paper ballots that were either mailed or completed at Pizza Hut locations, to being conducted exclusively on the network's website, and included text messaging by 2007. During the early years of Internet voting, there were several issues, including the digital equivalent of ballot stuffing and adult voting. As a result, a new system was put into place where one vote per Nick.com account is allowed. In 2010, an iPhone application and mobile browser voting were also added.
The 2009 Kids' Choice Awards featured a new award called "The Big Green Help Award" which goes to the celebrity who goes above and beyond to help the Earth. The inaugural award was presented to Leonardo DiCaprio. For the 2010 awards, "The Big Green Help" award was renamed "The Big Help" award, with First Lady Michelle Obama winning the first award under the rename.
Unlike traditional awards shows, the Kids' Choice Awards uses other items to announce an award winner instead of a traditional envelope. The show sometimes uses balloons, T-shirts, models, giant letters, stickers, and even a foot.
Voting became available for Canadian people in time for the 2010 ceremony, owing to the inauguration of Nickelodeon's Canadian service in November 2009.
The 2020 ceremony was held in a virtual format in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2024 ceremony was the first to not air in March or April since 2020; it was hosted on July 13 and was the first ceremony hosted by animated characters, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, to honor the 25th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants.
International history
In June 2010, Nickelodeon Latin America announced a Kids' Choice Awards for Mexico. Other countries with their own Kids' Choice Awards include Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia, and Indonesia, which are either fully original local productions, or inserted as continuity during their broadcast of the U.S. ceremony. The Australian Kids' Choice Awards had its final local ceremony in 2012.In August 2011, Nickelodeon Latin America announced a Kids' Choice Awards event for Argentina.
In June 2014, Nickelodeon Latin America announced a Kids' Choice Awards event for Colombia.
Awards
This table shows the awards that were presented over the years. An asterisk next to a category indicates an award has been presented in that particular category every year since the inception of the Kids' Choice Awards in 1988.Ceremonies
'''Notes'''Venues
The Kids' Choice Awards are typically held in and around Southern California. Past ceremonies have been held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, the Hollywood Bowl, the Olympic Auditorium">2010 Winter Olympics">Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, and Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, but mostly at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. After renovations to Pauley beginning in 2011, the show was moved to the Galen Center at USC; it was expected to be a temporary home, but the network retained Galen for the 2012–2014 ceremonies due to the construction of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center, making it difficult to have the "Orange Carpet"; the smaller Kids' Choice Sports had its first ceremony in 2014 at Pauley. For the 2015 and 2016 shows, the ceremony occurred at the remodeled Forum in Inglewood, California. Between the 2017 and 2019 shows, the venue alternated between the Galen Center and The Forum. The 2023 ceremony was held at the Microsoft Theater.The 2020 awards, previously scheduled for March 22, were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the ceremony was later moved to May 2 to be held virtually. The 2020 show was originally planned to serve as a tie-in with Nickelodeon's SlimeFest event.
Multiple year hosts
The ceremony has been hosted multiple times by five individuals: Candace Cameron who hosted in 1990 and 1994, Whitney Houston who hosted consecutively in 1995 and 1996, Rosie O'Donnell who hosted consecutively from 1996 through 2003, Jack Black who hosted in 2006, 2008 and 2011, and John Cena who hosted consecutively in 2017 and 2018.Special awards
For these awards, the trophy awarded to the recipient may be a different color than Nickelodeon orange.The Hall of Fame Award
The Hall of Fame Award was a gold version of the blimp award from 1991 to 2000, and was presented to those whose accomplishments, fame, and popularity set them above everyone else. Initially, the award was chosen by the kids from a slate of nominees. Actors, athletes, and singers were all eligible for the award, with ballots containing nominees from multiple categories.| Year | Winner |
| 1991 | Paula Abdul |
| 1992 | Arnold Schwarzenegger |
| 1994 | Michael Jordan |
| 1995 | Boyz II Men |
| 1996 | Tim Allen |
| 1997 | Will Smith |
| 1998 | Tia & Tamera Mowry |
| 1999 | Jonathan Taylor Thomas |
| 2000 | Rosie O'Donnell |
The Wannabe Award
The Wannabe Award was a silver version of the blimp award from 2001 to 2008, and was presented to the best celebrity role model or inspiration. The winner was determined prior to the awards without voter input. The only person to have won the Wannabe award and the Hall of Fame award is Will Smith.| Year | Winner |
| 2001 | Tom Cruise |
| 2002 | Janet Jackson |
| 2003 | Will Smith |
| 2004 | Adam Sandler |
| 2005 | Queen Latifah |
| 2006 | Chris Rock |
| 2007 | Ben Stiller |
| 2008 | Cameron Diaz |
The Big Help Award
The Big Green Help Award was an award presented to a person who goes above and beyond to help the environment. It is based on Nickelodeon's The Big Help initiative. The award was originally green when first awarded in 2009, but later changed to silver along with a name change of the award the following years.| Year | Winner |
| 2009 | Leonardo DiCaprio |
| 2010 | Michelle Obama |
| 2011 | Justin Timberlake |
| 2012 | Taylor Swift |
Lifetime Achievement Award
The Nickelodeon Lifetime Achievement Award is a golden version of the blimp award. In 2023, a normal orange-colored blimp award was used.In 2014, the award was given to television producer Dan Schneider, who created multiple shows at Nickelodeon. During the presentation of his award, Schneider was joined onstage by cast members of his shows including Kenan & Kel, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat. In 2023, the award was given to Transformers character Optimus Prime. In his acceptance speech, Prime proclaimed for the award to, "...seal the bond between humans, Maximals, and Autobots, as we fight together to protect the planet."
Legend Award
The award was originally introduced in the Kids' Choice Sports ceremony, but has since carried over to the main ceremony.| Year | Winner |
| 2014 | David Beckham |
| 2015 | Derek Jeter |
| 2016 | Kobe Bryant |
| 2017 | Michael Phelps |
| 2018 | Danica Patrick |
| 2019 | Dwyane Wade |
| 2024 | Serena Williams |
Generation Change Award
The Generation Change Award is presented to those who have worked to bring positive changes for the new generation of kids. The award was originally introduced in the 2019 Kids' Choice Sports ceremony, but has since carried over to the main ceremony.| Year | Winner |
| 2019 | Megan Rapinoe |
| 2020 | LeBron James |
| 2021 | Kamala Harris |
King of Comedy Award
ICON Award
Kids' Choice Sports
From 2014-2019, Nickelodeon presented the first annual Kids' Choice Sports, honoring kids' favorite athletes, teams, and sports moments from the year. Michael Strahan produced and hosted the inaugural ceremony.Ceremonies
Slimed celebrities
During a ceremony, sometimes a celebrity presenter or award winner might not know when they are going to be slimed onstage or offstage, though as the years went on, getting slimed became more of an honor, and less of a comedic humiliation akin to the early Nickelodeon series You Can't Do That on Television, from whence the concept originated.Hosts of the show have also been slimed, and occasionally celebrities not attending the awards have been slimed via video segment, such as when Rosie O'Donnell tricked Melissa Joan Hart into getting slimed on the set of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 2001, or when Amanda Seyfried and Josh Hutcherson were slimed at a KCA watch party in 2013. Celebrities sitting in the audience are also fair game for being slimed, as Mandy Moore first learned in 2007, and Halle Berry later found out in 2012.
Below is a list of all the celebrities that have been slimed over the past years at the Kids' Choice Awards.
Slime stunts
Beginning in 2002, the show began its annual World Record Slime Stunts. Olympians, extreme sports stars and daredevils participated in special stunts performed live on national television—often landing into the trademark green slime.| Year | Celebrity | Stunt synopsis |
| 2002 | Dave Mirra | The BMX pro-biker broke his own record for a double back flip on a BMX bike and landed in a 5,000 gallon tank of green slime. |
| 2003 | Tony Hawk | The skateboarding champion skateboarded into an 11,000 gallon tank of green slime. |
| 2004 | Mat Hoffman | The BMX pro performed the "World Record Skydiving Bike Jump" skydiving 14,000 feet in a lakefull of green slime. |
| 2005 | Donald Trump/David Spitz Jr. | From New York, The Apprentice host "fired" human cannonball David Spitz Jr. into the air, where he landed in a net laced with green slime. |
| 2006 | Ryan St. Onge | In a live remote from the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, the U.S. Olympic Freestyle Aerial Skier skied into 10,000 gallons of green slime. |
| 2007 | Ron Jones | Bungee jumping into a pool of slime. |
| 2008 | Jack Black Orlando Bloom | Kids Choice 2008 had many slime stunts all hosted by professional boxer Laila Ali. Depending on the outcome of the stunt, a certain amount of green slime was added to a slime vat backstage which was referred to throughout as the "Slime Meter". The slime was used later on at the end of the show, in what was supposedly the "World's Longest Celebrity Sliming," in which Orlando Bloom joined host Jack Black to be slimed for one solid minute. Host Black even made a remark about how the grand total of 27 tons of slime could fit in a vat that only held 25 tons. |
| 2008 | Akon | In the first stunt, affectionately called the "Slime-o-Lition Derby", the pop star had 45 seconds to ride the Kids' Choice Bobble Head Kart. The choices were the shark-themed "Jaws Jalopy", a hot dog-shaped "Weiner Wagon" and the winner, the Jack Black Bobble Head Kart which was essentially a go-kart with a giant Jack Black head on the top. Akon successfully completed the course adding 10 tons of slime to the vat, "plus 5 for finishing" bringing the total to 15 tons. |
| 2008 | Usher | The famous R&B singer performed the second stunt manning a "slime hose," firing at a sumo wrestler and propelling him in costume along a long platform. The amount of slime added to the vat was determined by how far the "human target" was propelled by the spray of slime. Viewers voting online picked the sumo wrestler over his competitor, the Scuba diver. The "human target" was launched all the way to the 5-ton mark bringing the total of slime in the vat to 20 tons. |
| 2008 | Heidi Klum | The last stunt was performed by the supermodel or as host Black called her "Heidi the Human Dart". Klum was attached by a harness to a long cable, allowing her to swing freely in which she did. Armed with a pad of spikes, she swung between her platform and what was a trampoline-like wall covered in slime balloons. For every slime balloon Klum popped in 30 seconds, one more ton of slime was added to the vat. Kids voted online to determine exactly what type of spike pad Klum would use to pop the balloons. The choices were the hand-worn "mittens" and the winner the "butt pad" which unanimously beat out the mittens. Klum popped 7 balloons on the wall, adding 7 more tons of slime to the vat and bringing the total of slime in the vat to 27 tons. |
| 2009 | Will Ferrell | The comedian-actor slid down a slime-covered slide that was placed on top of Janss Steps on the UCLA campus, on a luge head first into a pool of slime. |
| 2010 | Apolo Anton Ohno | Two stunts were featured at the 2010 awards. First, eight-time Olympic medalist Ohno was catapulted into slime by slingshot with the help of WWE wrestler John Cena. |
| 2010 | Jerry Trainor Jackson Rathbone Nicola Peltz | For the second stunt, to promote The [Last Airbender |The Last Airbender] stars Peltz and Rathbone along with iCarly star Trainor were featured in a bending-slime event. Since Peltz's character is a "water-bender", she bent the slime towards Trainor and Rathbone. |
| 2011 | Kelvin Ramer | Ramer's monster truck, rebodied and relivered for the event, jumps over a 50-foot Nickelodeon blimp award into a pool of slime. It was hosted by Paul "The Big Show" Wight who said that it was the most dangerous Kids' Choice slime stunt ever. |
| 2012 | Big Show and The Miz | A slime themed wrestling match between Big Show and The Miz. When either The Big Show or The Miz hits the special cannons on each corner of the ring, slime shoots out and covers the audience. The Big Show defeated The Miz when he threw him over the ring and into a pool of slime. Afterwards, The Big Show was slimed for his ultimate reward. |
| 2014 | Dave England & Jukka Hildén | Kids got to pick between three slime stunts and the one with the highest number of votes would win. It was between an Ultimate Slime Rodeo, a High Speed Bathtub Race, or a Slippery Obstacle Course. The Ultimate Slime Rodeo won as both Dave and Jukka rode on electronic riding horses that had slime hoses in their mouths and whoever held on the longest would win. Dave eventually held on the longest and won. |
| 2015 | Cast of The Thundermans | An online vote was held during the show, in which kids chose between The Thundermans, Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn, and Bella and the Bulldogs. The cast of the show with the most votes would go through a car wash with slime being fired at every direction. |
| 2016 | Bethany Mota & Cameron Dallas | As part of the ceremony's website/app voting system set up for the show, kids voted for the best internet personality. They had to choose between YouTuber Bethany Mota and YouTuber, Viner, TikToker, and actor Cameron Dallas. Both of them went on to partake in the Slime Soakers stunt but only one of them was to get slimed, which the kids had to vote for on Nick.com and in the Nick app. Towards the end of the show, the winner, Cameron Dallas, was revealed and proceeded to get slimed. |
| 2020 | Astronauts | ESA Astronaut Col. Luca Parmitano and NASA Astronaut Christina Koch opened and played with the first ever slime in space inside the International Space Station. |