Drake, Kings of Leon, more battle for mtvU Woodie Awards top prize

Drake

MTV college network mtvU has announced the nominations for its 2009 Woodie Awards, with Drake, Kings of Leon, Drake, MGMT and Silversun Pickups each competing for the top prize, Woodie of the Year.

Of the six awards dished at the annual ceremony, not a single artist has been nominated for more than one award. The other categories include new artist award Breaking Woodie, the uncategorizable artist set Left Field Woodie, Best Video Woodie, Performing Woodie (live performances) and Good Woodie (for artists who have the largest social impact).

Matt & Kim's "Lessons Learned," which is up for Best Video, won the MTV Video Music Awards last month.

Some of the biggest names -- like John Legend, Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean -- are up for Good Woodie. Other noteable names from the mainstream and of the indies include Animal Collective, "New Moon" soundtrack contributors Grizzly Bear and Death Cab For Cutie, hip-hop flavor-of-the-year Kid Cudi, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 3oh!3 and Ra Ra Riot.

Of the 33 nominees, six are female-fronted or co-lead.

The nominations and the ultimate fate of each award are selected by college students and mtvU viewers. Voting started yesterday (Oct. 5) and continues through Nov. 16, right here.

What's great about the mtvU Woodie Awards is that the show is more devoted to performance than acceptance speeches and 3,000 nominating categories. The ceremony this year will take place on Nov. 18 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. Performers and presenters will be revealed at a later date. The show will be broadcast on Dec. 4 on mtvU, MTV, MTV2 and Palladia.

The nominees for the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards are:

Woodie of the Year
Asher Roth
Kings of Leon
Drake
MGMT
Silversun Pickups

The Breaking Woodie
Grizzly Bear
Never Shout Never
Wale
La Roux
Friendly Fires
Passion Pit

Left Field Woodie
Amanda Blank
Janelle Monáe
Major Lazer
Jay Reatard
Tech N9ne

Best Video Woodie
Matt & Kim, "Lessons Learned"
Dead Weather, "Treat Me Like Your Mother"
Death Cab for Cutie, "Grapevine Fires"
Anjulie, "Boom"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Heads Will Roll"
Kid Cudi, "Day N Nite"

Performing Woodie
Green Day
Phoenix
3OH!3
Animal Collective
POS

The Good Woodie
John Legend, Show Me Campaign
Wyclef Jean, Yele Haiti
Kenna, PlayPumps
Jamie Tworkowski, To Write Love on Her Arms
Ra Ra Riot, John Ryan Pike Memorial Foundation
Alicia Keys, Keep a Child Alive/ AIDS activism

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.