Award Central News

For that reason, Nick's live kudocast is an ideal testing ground for technology and making the show as interactive and as seamless an experience as possible, whether kids are tuning in through the TV, the Web or both.

"Kids are predisposed to the multitasking and predisposed to us serving things up to them and asking them to weigh in and have an impact on what happens in the show and, in this case, after the show as well," says Jason Root, senior VP for digital in the Nick-MTV Networks' kids and family group.

This year's KCAs will let kids vote for their favorites and take part in the show through more platforms than ever. In addition to Nick.com, votes can be cast on the TurboNick broadband site as well as a cell-phone-friendly Web site (called a WAP site you can see on a cell-phone screen) and in a special area of its Nicktropolis virtual community, where kids can hang out on the orange carpet, go backstage, visit the after-party and chat with buddies. Kids also can create their own musicvideo starring KCA host Jack Black to share with their friends.

The digital experience extends to the staging of the actual show, with TurboNick offering exclusive preshow coverage and multiple blogs and webcam views available throughout the event.

Such strategies have enhanced participation in the event, which set records last year with 19 million unique visitors online and more than 40 million votes cast. Root says that "we saw about a 54% increase in voting last year, and we're pretty bullish this year as well."

Onstage, viewers will notice a few category changes, with a new onefor favorite reality TV show, and the favorite athlete awards split into favorite male athlete and favorite female athlete.

Voting doesn't stop during the show, as kids help pick the best celebrity burp and can vote on an in-show stunt.

Once the live event is over, Nick will post digital clips for kids to vote on, with winners being used in the edited-down version of the show. That those clips will go up immediately is a step up from previous years, where digitizing the clips and posting them took about a day.

"There's certainly an element of immediacy that is above and beyond what we did even last year," Root says. "It doesn't seem like a chore to ask kids to come online in the middle of the show to vote for something. I think kids expect that."