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The Big Ballot
The Big Ballot
Date	March 28 – April 18, 1987
Location	New York
Hosted by	Matt Nespole; Rebecca Schwager; Mark Shanahan
Television/radio coverage
Network	Nickelodeon
Runtime	30 minutes

The 1st Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as The Big Ballot,^[1] was presented over four episodes of Nickelodeon's movie review program Rated K: For Kids by Kids 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 that winners received for The Big Ballot was a golden teleidoscope. The in-studio hosts for the show were Matt Nespole, Rebecca Schwager, and Mark Shanahan.

History and format

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".^[2] 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.^[3]^[4]

Winners and nominees

Below is a complete list of nominees and partial list of winners. Winners are listed first, in bold. Other nominees are in alphabetical order.

Movies

The winners were announced on March 28, 1987.^[4]

Favorite Movie	Favorite Movie Actor
The Karate Kid Part II^[4] Crocodile Dundee Top Gun	Eddie Murphy^[4] Tom Cruise – Top Gun as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell Tom Hanks
Favorite Movie Actress
Whoopi Goldberg^[4] Goldie Hawn Ally Sheedy

Television

The winners were announced on April 4, 1987.^[4]

Favorite TV Show^[5]	Favorite TV Actor^[5]
The Cosby Show Family Ties Moonlighting	Bill Cosby – The Cosby Show as Cliff Huxtable Kirk Cameron – Growing Pains as Mike Seaver Michael J. Fox – Family Ties as Alex P. Keaton
Favorite TV Actress^[5]
Kim Fields - The Facts of Life as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey Tempestt Bledsoe - The Cosby Show as Vanessa Huxtable Keshia Knight Pulliam - The Cosby Show as Rudy Huxtable

Music

The winners were announced on April 11, 1987.^[4]

Favorite Music Group	Favorite Male Vocalist
The Monkees^[6]^[7] The Jets Huey Lewis and the News	Phil Collins^[7] Lionel Richie Bruce Springsteen
Favorite Female Vocalist
Madonna^[8]^[7] Whitney Houston Janet Jackson

Sports

The winners were announced on April 18, 1987.^[4]

Favorite Sports Team^[9]^[10]	Favorite Male Athlete^[10]
Chicago Bears^[11] Los Angeles Lakers New York Mets	Michael Jordan Jim McMahon Darryl Strawberry
Favorite Female Athlete^[10]
Valerie Brisco-Hooks Chris Evert Debi Thomas

References

^ Nickelodeon's Big Ballot (Video). retrorocker. April 18, 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved March 30, 2020 – via YouTube.
^ "KCA Fun Facts". nickkcapress.com.
^ Hiltzik, Michael A. (August 27, 1985). "Viacom to Buy MTV and Showtime in Deal Worth $667.5 Million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Kids Vote for Karate Kid II". Los Angeles Times. March 28, 1987. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rated K: For Kids By Kids #07 (The Big Ballot!) (Video). Greg Stevens. March 14, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved March 22, 2021 – via YouTube.
^ The Monkees on Rated K (April 11, 1987) (Video). Monkees Live Almanac. January 29, 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved March 22, 2021 – via YouTube.
^ ^a ^b ^c Briggs, Tracey Wong (April 13, 1987). "Monkee Business". USA Today. p. 01D. ProQuest 305846411.
^ 0490 (Video). mvidz6. November 21, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2021 – via Vimeo.
^ "Kids like Jordan, McMahon, Bears". Chicago Sun-Times. March 23, 1987. p. 127. ProQuest 257513670.
^ ^a ^b ^c Stewart, Larry (April 17, 1987). "Announcers: Men in Motion During Football Off-Season". Los Angeles Times. p. 3. ProQuest 292466239.
^ Myslenski, Skip; Kay, Linda (January 15, 1987). "Staying power: He may not be heading..." Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 22, 2021.