'SpongeBob' creator graced with a Statue

Hillenburg attributes popularity to character's innocence

By DAVE MCNARY

'SpongeBob SquarePants'

"SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenburg has been tapped as winner of the Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation.

Prince Albert of Monaco presented the kudo -- given only to a prior recipient of a fellowship from the org -- Tuesday at a black-tie gala at the Waldorf Astoria in Gotham.

"It's all pretty flattering," the former marine biologist told Daily Variety. "And it's kind of hard to imagine that this character would ever reach this level. There's a kind of classic innocence to SpongeBob that's similar to Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and Pee-wee Herman."

Hillenburg also stressed that Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, should be credited with making key contributions to maintaining the toon's simplicity. The creator has started scripting a bigscreen version of the Nicktoon.

Dance winners include Kurt Douglas, Jose Limon; David Hallberg, American Ballet Theater; Michelle Jimenez, the Washington Ballet; Nicholle Rochelle, North Carolina Dance Theater; Rachel Tess, Juilliard; and Jennie Somogyi, NewYork City Ballet.

Film winners were David Chontos, Rochester Institute of Technology; Mandy Durham, Kansas City Art Institute; Zach Horton, UC San Diego; Sonny Quinn, Columbia U.; Benjamin Russell, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Angel Vasquez, San Francisco State U.