KEY POINTS:
LOS ANGELES - Adam Sandler and Dakota Fanning won prizes at cable channel Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards yesterday, while the frequent references to "giant boogers" and belching had the highly excitable audience of more than 10,000 youngsters in stitches.
Pop singer Justin Timberlake hosted the 20th annual event and one was one of the 16 winners, taking home an orange blimp statuette for favorite male singer.
"I feel like a grandpa up here," Timberlake, 26, said, surrounded by kids who were probably too young to remember his long-ago days in the boy band 'N Sync.
Winners are determined by Nickelodeon viewers, and the network said more than 40 million votes were cast. Presenters revealed the outcomes with the help of giant props, such as a large nose from which one of them had to extract a gag-inducing substance bearing the winner's name.
Sandler was named favorite male movie star, and Fanning took the female category. Even at such relaxed events, long-winded recipients are eventually drowned out by loud music, as Fanning discovered.
Favorite movie was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, accepted by Orlando Bloom, while Happy Feet won for favorite animated movie. Nicole Kidman accepted the award on behalf of director George Miller, and briefly stumbled as she mounted the steps to the stage.
In what is a beloved Nickelodeon tradition, the 90-minute ceremony was dotted by slimings - during which celebs are sprayed with green goo. Victims included Timberlake, Tobey Maguire and Steve Carell, as well as many of the audience members in the seats up front.
- REUTERS
