The Animal Power of the 21st Genesis Awards!

The Animal Power of the 21st Genesis Awards!

'Charlotte's Web,' 'Happy Feet,' 'Fast Food Nation,' and 'Open Season' are Among the Nominees at The Humane Society of The United States' Annual Celebration of Animal-Friendly Media

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) today announced nominees for its 21st Genesis Awards, honoring the news and entertainment media for showcasing animal protection issues. Winners in 18 categories will be presented on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at a gala ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA.

In a particularly bountiful year for animals in the media, three notable movies were nominated in the category of Family Feature Film: "Charlotte's Web," "Hoot," and "Eight Below." In the Animated Family Feature Film category, the nominees were the Academy Award-nominated "Happy Feet," "Open Season" and "Over the Hedge."

This year's Genesis Awards are the first in which nominees were announced in advance. A total of 53 nominees are named in film, TV, documentary and print categories in recognition of their superlative portrayals and coverage of animal issues.

"The unprecedented volume of material from 2006 has enabled us to have nominations for the first time in our 21-year history," says Beverly Kaskey, the director of The HSUS's Hollywood Office. "This is a sure sign that animal issues are of increasing relevance, emerging naturally as part of the growing attention to the plight of animals and the natural world. The fact that animal protection concerns can figure seamlessly in entertainment as diverse as "The Simpsons," "Fast Food Nation," "CSI," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," proves that animal protection has penetrated popular culture."

The Genesis Awards annually recognize the major news and entertainment media for highlighting emerging issues or for bringing a fresh perspective to long-standing ones. The Genesis Awards do what few other awards shows do -- it advocates change and a desire to make a difference on behalf of animals.

Genesis Awards will be given in two categories of documentaries, as well as for reality programming, talk shows, children's programming and dramatic series, among others. International awards will be given in print and TV/film in the name of famed animal activist Brigitte Bardot. The award for comedy is named for humorist Sid Caesar.

In the category of Outstanding Written Word, articles from Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles magazine and Time were nominated.

In addition to the news and entertainment nominees, The HSUS announced a new category: A celebrity who has made news on behalf of animals will receive the Wyler Award in honor of Genesis Awards founder and former Broadway star Gretchen Wyler, one of the most honored figures in animal activism.

Celebrities who have joined the 21st Genesis Awards Honorary Committee include: Sean Astin, William Baldwin, James Cromwell, Emily Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel, Jorja Fox, Dennis Franz, Wendie Malick, Joe Mantegna, Jay McCarroll, Moby, Mary Tyler Moore, Chynna Phillips, Doris Roberts, Alicia Silverstone, Amy Smart, Gloria Steinem, Steve Valentine, Persia White and Noah Wyle.

The HSUS is further developing its innovative Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE), an industry resource and companion program to the annual Genesis Awards, designed to actively promote and develop animal issue storylines and themes in the entertainment media.

The 21st Genesis Awards are made possible in part by our corporate patrons: MassMutual Financial Group, Southwest Airlines, BeKind.org and Market Development Group; corporate benefactors: Prai Beauty Group, Nature's Miracle, Humane Wireless and Cosmic Catnip, and sponsor Issimo.

THE 21ST GENESIS AWARDS NOMINATIONS

OUTSTANDING FEATURE FILM

FAST FOOD NATION -- Fox Searchlight Pictures -- For an uncompromising look at the link between the exploitation of people and animals in a slaughterhouse.

MOUNTAIN PATROL: KEKEXILI -- National Geographic World Films -- For depicting the real-life heroes who fight to protect the rare Tibetan antelope.

OUR DAILY BREAD -- Nikolaus Geyrhalter Film Produktion -- For a haunting vision of our modern food industry and the methods and technology utilized for mass production, including animals used for food.

OUTSTANDING FAMILY FEATURE FILM

CHARLOTTE'S WEB -- Paramount Pictures/Walden Media -- For a charming adaptation of a timeless tale about friendship, loyalty and respect for all living creatures.

EIGHT BELOW -- Walt Disney Pictures -- For a heroic adventure about one man's determination to rescue his team of sled dogs abandoned in Antarctica.

HOOT -- Walden Media -- For an inspiring story of a group of kids who come together to challenge a local building plan in order to preserve the habitat of a family of owls.

OUTSTANDING FAMILY FEATURE FILM -- ANIMATED

HAPPY FEET -- Warner Bros. Pictures -- For a delightful tale about an outcast penguin who saves himself from a zoo and his community from the threat of human over-fishing.

OPEN SEASON -- Sony Pictures Animation -- For highlighting, with irony and wit, the unfair advantage hunters have over defenseless animals and why wild animals should not be kept as pets.

OVER THE HEDGE -- DreamWorks Animation -- For an amusing, yet pointed, story about what happens when animals and humans collide as a result of urban sprawl.

SID CAESAR COMEDY AWARD

THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART -- The Deer Hurter -- Comedy Central -- For lampooning hunters and hunting to hilarious effect.

LEWIS BLACK: RED WHITE AND SCREWED -- HBO -- For his unique and biting mockery of canned hunts.

THE SIMPSONS -- Million Dollar Abie -- FOX -- For attempting to take the "bull" out of the bravery of bullfighting.

OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC SERIES

BONES -- The Woman in Limbo -- FOX -- For starkly demonstrating the methods used in slaughtering farm animals.

CSI -- Loco Motives -- CBS -- For illuminating the cruelty involved in the factory farming of chickens.

OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING

AVATAR: The Last Air Bender -- Appa's Lost Days -- Nickelodeon -- For a mythical, yet relevant, tale about a creature enslaved for human entertainment.

DARCY'S WILDLIFE -- Love in the Time of Kennel Cough -- Discovery Kids on NBC -- For expressing a disgust for animal cruelty, but showing why there are alternatives to taking the law into one's hands.

THAT'S SO RAVEN -- Fur Better or Worse -- Disney Channel -- For a thoughtful and funny take on the needless use of fur in fashion.

OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW

LARRY KING LIVE -- CNN -- For an in-depth examination of the cruelty of the Canadian seal hunt.

NAOMI'S NEW MORNING -- Hallmark -- For exploring the importance of pets to human well-being.

OUTSTANDING TV NEWSMAGAZINE

60 MINUTES -- The Orphanage, Shooting Tigers, Global Warning! -- CBS -- For spotlighting the plight of orphaned baby African elephants, endangered tigers in India and polar bears threatened by global warming.

ANDERSON COOPER 360 -- CNN -- For exposing the cruelty of Class B dog dealers by reporting on HBO's Dealing Dogs documentary, revealing the inhumane methods of hunting Russian bears and covering the threat to Africa's Gorillas.

PRIMER IMPACTO -- Indignato Abuso -- Univision Network -- For an unflinching report on a shelter for abused animals.

PRIMETIME -- Caught in the Act -- ABC -- For demonstrating how surveillance both indicted animal activists for breaking into an egg-laying hen facility and vindicated them by capturing the cruelty they set out to expose on camera.

OUTSTANDING REALITY PROGRAMMING

ANIMAL PLANET HEROES: PHOENIX -- The Dog House -- Animal Planet -- For depicting the tragedy of animal hoarding.

EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION -- The DeAeth Family -- ABC -- For an exceptional makeover of a family's home and adjacent animal shelter, which provided the audience with an invaluable 101 on various animal issues.

OUTSTANDING NATIONAL NEWS

ABC NEWS NOW -- For a succinct warning about the impact of global warming on polar bears.

CBS EVENING NEWS -- McNeil River Bears of Alaska -- For a 2-part report on Alaskan brown bears whose habituation to people threatens their existence as plans are approved to open their sanctuary to hunters.

CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC -- For spotlighting the beneficial effects of dogs in the workplace and for covering the airlift of pets from war-torn Lebanon.

OUTSTANDING CABLE DOCUMENTARY

DEALING DOGS -- HBO -- For a no-holds-barred expose of the abject cruelty of a licensed Class B dog dealer who was subsequently prosecuted in one of the most notorious cases of animal cruelty of recent years.

JANE GOODALL'S HEROES -- Animal Planet -- For presenting uplifting profiles of five individuals who have committed their lives to saving various species.

SAVING A SPECIES: THE GREAT PENGUIN RESCUE -- Animal Planet -- For following a heroic, internationally coordinated effort in South Africa to save penguins affected by an oil spill.

OUTSTANDING PBS DOCUMENTARY

CHIMPANZEES: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY -- Nature -- For a poignant study of how the space programs of the 60s, medical research and life in entertainment have adversely impacted the lives of chimpanzees, man's closest living relative.

A LIFE AMONG WHALES -- For showcasing a riveting and reasoned appeal from leading whale advocate Roger Payne to end whale hunting.

JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU: OCEAN ADVENTURES -- Sharks at Risk -- For rehabilitating the image of the much-maligned shark, and revealing how this ecologically necessary animal is being decimated.

OUTSTANDING LOCAL NEWS FEATURE

FOX 5 NEWS WTTG-TV (Washington, D.C.) -- Animal Underworld & Sold for Slaughter -- For examining the link between the exotic pet trade and canned hunting.

FOX 25 NEWS (Boston/New England) -- Dog Fighting in New England -- For an undercover investigation into the illegal trade in gruesome dog fighting videos, prompting draft legislation that will impose stiffer penalties.

WFOR-TV CBS 4 NEWS (Miami) -- For a prodigious output of stories including Butterball Turkey farm cruelty, the Canadian seal hunt, foie gras and pets in condos.

OUTSTANDING LOCAL NEWS SERIES

KGO TV (Bay Area) -- greyhound hare coursing -- For highlighting the inherent cruelty of the little-known "sport" of hare coursing.

KHOU-TV (Houston) -- America's Dirty Little Secret -- For exploring the controversial horse slaughter issue and the impact on those who live close to one of the two Texas slaughterhouses.

NBC 6/WTVJ (Miami) -- Puppy Heartbreak -- For an intrepid multi-part series on puppy mills.

OUTSTANDING LOCAL NEWSMAGAZINE

LIFE & TIMES -- Animal Cops -- KCET -- For examining the much-needed work of LAPD's animal cruelty task force.

STUDIO 2 -- KCBS -- For investigating a puppy mill dog smuggling ring, trafficking sick and unweaned animals from across the Mexican border.

BRIGITTE BARDOT INTERNATIONAL -- TV/FILM

CARTE BLANCHE (South Africa) -- Elephants of Thukela Part I & II -- For the heart-rending account of the fight to save and relocate a small herd of elephants who have survived a violent culling.

POM: LE POULAIN -- Ring Productions -- For a moving portrayal of the bond between a draft horse and her young colt and the stable hand who struggles to keep them together.

SOUTH AFRICA 50/50 -- Hunters Becomes Hunted -- For a compelling chronicle of the work of the Sea Shepherd team in its brave attempts to stop Japanese whalers.

BRIGITTE BARDOT INTERNATIONAL - PRINT

LIZ JONES -- multiple articles -- The Evening Standard, Daily Mail (U.K.) -- For unequivocally condemning the use of fur in designer fashion collections.

SOUTHASIA (Pakistan) -- multiple articles -- Editor Javed Ansari -- For condemning mass livestock shipments to Islamic slaughterhouses in the Middle East and the inhumane methods used to kill the animals.

THE SUNDAY TIMES (U.K.) Killing Field Of the Dog Racing Industry by Daniel Foggo -- For uncovering the mass killing of unwanted racing greyhounds in the U.K.

OUTSTANDING WRITTEN WORD

LOS ANGELES magazine -- What's A Dog Worth? by Jesse Katz -- For a haunting portrait of everyday life in L.A.'s animal shelters that focuses on the tragic fate of one dog whose breed makes him unjustifiably difficult to adopt.

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE -- An Elephant Crackup? by Charles Siebert -- For a groundbreaking report on how Post Traumatic Syndrome research is being applied to elephants, proving both their intelligence and the traumatic effect man is having on their lives in the wild and in captivity.

TIME magazine -- Who Belongs In The Zoo? by Michael Lemonick -- For a concise and reasoned assessment of why certain animals should not be displayed in zoos.

ROLLING STONE -- Boss Hog by Jeff Tietz -- For an in-depth and alarming look at the inhumane conditions endured by pigs in factory farms and the disturbing evidence of the human health and environmental fall-out from these industrial operations.

VANITY FAIR -- Galloping Scared by Kurt Brungardt -- For a thorough examination of the history and plight of America's wild mustangs, victims of cattle ranching interests.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.

Contact: Sue Blackmore
The Hollywood Office of The Humane Society of the United States
(818) 501 2275, sue@hsushollywood.org or go to www.genesisawards.org

Source: Humane Society of the United States

CONTACT: Sue Blackmore of The Hollywood Office of The Humane Society of
the United States, +1-818-501 2275, sue@hsushollywood.org

Web site: http://www.genesisawards.org/

Web site: http://www.hsus.org/

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