The kids of the United States have spoken and President Barack Obama has been elected the winner of Nickelodeon's 2012 Kids Pick the President "Kids' Vote." Since it began in 1988, kids have correctly picked the winner (in advance of the national election) five out of the last six times. More than half a million votes were cast in the network's online poll as part of Nickelodeon's Kids Pick the President initiative to build young citizens' awareness of, and involvement in, the election process.
President Obama received 65% of the vote and former Governor Mitt Romney received 35%. In order to more closely replicate the actual election, and to ensure the results were more authentic, this year the voting was limited to one vote per electronic device. Kids were able to cast their votes online from Oct. 15 to Oct. 22.
On Monday, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT),
Linda Ellerbee, the Emmy Award-winning host of Nickelodeon's Nick News, will announce the winner of the Kids Pick the President "Kids' Vote" on the network.
"What politicians do definitely affects kids but for me, it's not about who wins," said Ellerbee."It's about creating tomorrow's voters. Democracy takes work. We're the practice field."
Leading up to the Kids Pick the President online vote, Nickelodeon aired two election-themed Nick News with Linda Ellerbee specials this year, which ranked as the series' highest-rated episodes for 2012 to date. In "Kids Pick the President: The Issues" (Sept. 17), kids nationwide ranked the campaign issues most important to them. "Kids Pick the President: The Candidates" (Oct. 15) provided an opportunity for the two major party U.S. presidential candidates to answer kids' questions. This year's candidate special featured President Obama sitting down with Nick News at the White House to answer kids' questions and previously taped video clips of Romney addressing issues raised by kids. Romney was unable to participate in the special.
Nick.com served as the official home base of the Kids Pick the President campaign, attracting almost a million visitors and generating more than 2.9 million page views since launch on Aug. 7. Kids have flocked to the site to discuss the general election on its message board and Nick.com/kpp currently ranks as the most popular page on the site in October. Kids can visit Nick.com to interact and learn more about the upcoming election. They can also play games, take quizzes about the government, and learn about each candidate and the issues.
Kids Pick the President is also incorporated into Nickelodeon's The Big Help initiative where kids are given tools and information to take action on issues important to them. For more information, go to
www.thebighelp.com.
Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 21st year and is the longest-running kids' news show in television history. It 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 21 Emmy nominations and recently won its ninth Emmy Award for Under the Influence: Kids of Alcoholics in the category of Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program. Additional Emmy wins for outstanding children's programming include: The Face of Courage: Kids Living with Cancer (2010); Coming Home: When Parents Return from War (2009); The Untouchable Kids of India (2008); Private Worlds: Kids and Autism (2007); Never Again: From the Holocaust to the Sudan (2005); Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan (2002) and What Are You Staring At? (1998). In addition, in 1995, the entire series won the Emmy. In 2009, Nick News was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for best Network News Documentary for Coming Home: When Parents Return from War — the first-ever kids' television program to receive this prestigious award. Nick News has also received three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for explaining the impeachment of President Clinton to kids, as well as a Columbia duPont Award and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards
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