Hilary Duff, Usher among front-runners for Kids Choice Awards

LOS ANGELES -- The tanks were loaded with green slime, a live audience of almost 10,000 screaming youngsters was gathering and bets were on about who would get slimed at one of Hollywood's most unusual awards shows -- the 18th annual Kids Choice Awards.

The show, which features traditional awards such as favorite actor and actress, singer, and movie, was scheduled for live broadcast Saturday from UCLA's Pauley Pavilion on the Nickelodeon children's cable network.

"I think I'm going to be bringing a change of clothes for the evening," host and "Meet the Fockers" star Ben Stiller told The Associated Press before the event.

Traditionally, at least one celebrity gets doused each year in gooey green slime. This year, organizers also planned to fire a person out of a canon into a pool of green slime, an effort to top previous stunts that have included X Games champion Tony Hawk skateboarding into a slime pool.

"It should be a little bit of an adventure," Stiller said. "I will personally guarantee the fun. I'm not saying I'll have the fun, but I guarantee the kids will."

In the awards categories, the front-runner was teen idol Hilary Duff, nominated for favorite movie actress for "A Cinderella Story," favorite TV actress for "Lizzie McGuire" and favorite singer, an award she won last year. The 17-year-old's television series also was nominated.

Usher was nominated for favorite song for "Burn" and shared a favorite song nomination with Alicia Keys for "My Boo," the R&B hit that won the pair a Grammy earlier this year. He also was nominated as favorite male singer.

A special "Wannabe Award" was to be presented to the celebrity most kids said they wanted to be like. Past winners have included Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler.

Smith and punk-pop group Simple Plan were scheduled to perform at the show.

Award winners are chosen by fans who vote online, by phone and through Nickelodeon's magazine until the day of the show.

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