On Saturday, June 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET, Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards took place, marking the 38th annual award ceremony. Let’s learn more about the significance of these awards and what they mean to our communities.

Unlike the Grammys or other award shows, the Kids’ Choice Awards (also known as the KCA) are entirely based on kids’ opinions and their top picks for entertainment of the past year. This ceremony is typically held in March or April of every year, and while kids vote on the winners, Nickelodeon is responsible for the award nominees. In 1987, the first Kids’ Choice Awards took place, first known as “The Big Ballot”. This wasn’t a whole ceremony, it was just part of an onion show of the time, called Rated K For Kids by Kids. Votes for each category were sent by mail, and winners were awarded a golden telescope, a very memorable prize. In 1990, the show introduced the iconic orange blimp trophy. A fun fact about the trophy is that it is also a kaleidoscope. For reference, a kaleidoscope has mirrors inside that reflect light, making pretty, colorful patterns when you look through it. Rather than continuing as a TV show, the award show’s format was revamped to be more like Music Television’s (MTV) Video Music Awards, with a live audience, celebrity hosts, musical acts, and lots of green slime! You might have heard of the Kids’ Choice Awards through it’s silly tradition to slime celebrities. As part of the celebration, winners will get slimed after they take the stage, adding an exciting twist to the event! Over time, it became a huge event, and was a major attraction for viewers!

The KCA’s have only skipped one year of awards, which was 1993. The 1993 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards were skipped because the 1992 ceremony was held unusually late, in November, at Universal Studios Hollywood. This delay left too little time to plan a separate event for early 1993, so no show was held that year.

Another interesting fact is that in 2014, Nickelodeon launched a spin-off event, called Kids’ Choice Sports, focusing on athletes. However, this event ended in 2019 and was merged back into the main Kids’ Choice Awards in 2024.

There are tons of different categories for the KCA’s and some of them are:

• Favorite Movie / Actor / Actress

• Favorite Animated Movie / Series

• Favorite TV Show / TV Stars

• Favorite Song / Music Group / Singer

• Favorite Video Game

• Favorite Male & Female Sports Star

• Social Media Stars

Additionally, Nickelodeon gives out lifetime or honorary awards, with changing names over the years: 

• Hall of Fame Award (1991–2000)

• Wannabe Award (2001–2008)

• Big Help Awards (2009–2012)

• Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)

• Generation Change Award (2019–2021)

In conclusion, the Kids’ Choice Awards are a fun way for kids to celebrate their favorite stars, shows, movies, and more! With slime, music, and lots of laughs, the KCAs show just how much kids' opinions matter in entertainment.