The Big Ballot


The 1st Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as The Big Ballot, was presented over four episodes of Nickelodeon's movie review program which aired in 1987. Unlike its successor, the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, the show was less of a televised live event, and more of a pre-produced program. The trophy in this show is a golden teleidoscope. The in-studio hosts for the show were Lakmini Besbroda, Matt Nespoli, and Rebecca Schwager. The program was sponsored by Bonkers fruit chews and Post Cereal.

Hosts

The show was conceived as a way to "honor kids' opinions about movies and television", furthering Nickelodeon's campaign at the time of being a network that was "for kids, by kids". Ballots for the show's awards were cast via mail, and then the winners would tape a thank you video that was shown during the program. These videos were introduced, and broken up by "link" segments, featuring the Rated K cast. While The Big Ballot was seen as a success, producers Alan Goodman, Albie Hecht, and Fred Seibert were brought in to rebrand and re-launch the award show the following year, modeling future KCA's after MTV's Video Music Awards, which was under the same banner network umbrella now that Nickelodeon had been purchased by Viacom.

Awards

Below is a complete list of nominees and partial list of winners. Winners are highlighted in bold.

Movies

The winners were announced on March 28, 1987.
Favorite MovieFavorite Movie Actor

  • Eddie Murphy
  • * Tom Cruise – Top Gun as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
  • * Tom Hanks
    • Favorite Movie Actress-
  • Whoopi Goldberg
  • * Goldie Hawn
  • * Ally Sheedy
    		• -

    Television

    The winners were announced on April 4, 1987.
    Favorite TV ShowFavorite TV Actor

  • Bill Cosby – The Cosby Show as Cliff Huxtable
  • * Michael J. Fox – Family Ties as Alex P. Keaton
  • * Kirk Cameron – Growing Pains as Mike Seaver
    • Favorite TV Actress-
  • Kim Fields' - The Facts of Life
  • * Tempestt Bledsoe - The Cosby Show
  • * Keshia Knight Pulliam - The Cosby Show''
    		• -

    Music

    The winners were announced on April 11, 1987.
    Favorite Music GroupFavorite Male Vocalist

  • Phil Collins
  • Lionel Richie
  • Bruce Springsteen
    • Favorite Female Vocalist-
  • Madonna
  • * Whitney Houston
  • * Janet Jackson
    		• -

    Sports

    The winners were announced on April 18, 1987.
    Favorite Sports TeamFavorite Male Athlete

  • Michael Jordan
  • Jim McMahon
  • Darryl Strawberry
    • Favorite Female Athlete-
  • Valerie Brisco-Hooks
  • Chris Evert
  • Debi Thomas
    		• -