NEW YORK, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The votes are in and the kids of America have spoken. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have won Nickelodeon's first-ever kids' presidential primary election. Nick News' award-winning journalist and host Linda Ellerbee will formally announce the results tonight, Friday, Jan. 18, at 8:00 p.m. (EST/PST) on Nickelodeon.
Kids nationwide who cast their votes online at http://www.nick.com/kpp chose Sen. McCain, who received 24% of the Republican vote, and Sen. Obama who received 46% of the Democratic vote. Nickelodeon received almost 80,000 votes in the kids' primary election. Kids Pick the President currently ranks in the top three message boards on http://www.nick.com/.
"What better way to explain to kids how the primary system works then to actually hold a primary for them?" said Ellerbee, Host and Executive Producer of Nick News. "This year we have given kids a voice early on and allowed them to become part of the election process from the very beginning. I am thrilled to see that so many kids have come out to exercise their right to vote."
Following last Sunday's special -- Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: The Kids' Primary -- which explained how presidents are elected in the United States, the primary system, the current candidates, and what it means to be a Democrat or a Republican, kids were encouraged to go online and vote in Nickelodeon's first ever kids' primary, at http://www.nick.com/kpp from Jan. 13-18. The Kids' Primary was the first of three specials in Nickelodeon's Kids Pick The President campaign, the network's year-long initiative aimed at building young citizens' awareness of the election process and issues for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.
Nickelodeon's campaign includes three Kids Pick the President television specials created and produced by the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, and a special online election website http://www.nick.com/kpp/. The website features explanations of the election process, photographs and information about each candidate and their issues, as well as a calendar of the major election events.
The second special, Kids Pick the Issues, will premiere in March and will feature a discussion with kids about the issues and policies that matter to them. In the October Kids Pick the President special, Ellerbee will take kids' questions to the final candidates and then kids will be encouraged to go online and vote for the next U.S. President.
The campaign specials will also air on Cable in the Classroom (schedule will be announced), which airs Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6:00 a.m. (EST/PST). Cable in the Classroom provides schools with commercial-free educational television programming. To complement the Kids Pick the President campaign, supplementary materials are available as resources for teachers at http://teachers.nick.com/.
Nick News, is now in its 17th year is the longest-running kids' news show in television history, and has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 20 Emmy nominations and numerous Emmy wins. Most recently, in 2007, "Private Worlds: Kids and Autism" won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1994, the entire series, Nick News, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1998, "What Are You Staring At?" a program about kids with physical disabilities, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2002, "Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan," won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2004, two Nick News Specials, "The Courage to Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS" and "There's No Place Like Home," a special about homeless kids in America, were both nominated for the Outstanding Children's Programming Emmy. In 2005, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming for its show, "From the Holocaust to the Sudan." Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is also the recipient of three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for her coverage for kids of the President Clinton investigation. The series has also received two Columbia duPont Awards and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.
Nickelodeon, in its 28th 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, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more than 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. .
