Driven Far Off

The Nominees for the 2007 “mtvU Woodie Awards” are:

Woodie of the Year — (Artist of the Year)
The artists who made the biggest splash on mtvU and the college music scene this past year.
Nominees:
Amy Winehouse (Universal Republic Records)
Common (Geffen Records)
Gym Class Heroes (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Lily Allen (Capitol Records)
The Shins (Sub Pop Records)

The Breaking Woodie — (Best Emerging Artist)
mtvU is where new developing artists are test driven for the first time by the toughest critics around: college students.  One of this year’s newest artists will win the coveted “Breaking Woodie.”
Nominees:
Boys Like Girls (Columbia Records)
Peter Bjorn & John (Columbia Records)
Rich Boy (Interscope Records)
Silversun Pickups (Dangerbird Records)
Tokyo Police Club (Paper Bag Records)

Left Field Woodie — (Most Original Artist)
They’re genre-busters. They resist classification.  They came out of left field, and we’re still not sure what section of the record store to find them in.
Nominees:
CSS (Sub Pop Records)
Klaxons (Geffen Records)
Madvillain (Stones Throw Records)
Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO Records)
The Knife (Mute Records)

Best Video Woodie  — (Best Video of the Year)
The music video that is so incredible, we’d watch it even without the music.
Nominees:
Justice, “D.A.N.C.E.” (Downtown Records/Vice Records)
Motion City Soundtrack, “Broken Heart” (Epitaph)
RJD2, “Work It Out” (XL)
Say Anything, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” (J Records)
TV on the Radio, “Province” (Interscope Records)

The Good Woodie — (Greatest Social Impact)
The award for the artists whose commitment to a social cause has effected the greatest change this year.
Nominees:
Alicia Keys — “Keep a Child Alive”; promoting care for HIV/AIDS-infected children in Africa (J Records)
Guster — “Reverb”; “greened” more than 600 concerts in the last three years (Warner Bros. Records)
Linkin Park — “Music for Relief”; aids victims of world catastrophes and combats global warming (Warner Bros. Records)
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus — mental health awareness efforts (Capitol Records)
Thom Yorke — “Friends of the Earth”; fighting for legislation to prevent global warming (Beggars Group)

Performing Woodie — (Best Tour)
For those artists who take to the road and never let up, always giving that memorable live performance.
Nominees:
Daft Punk (Capitol Records)
Lil’ Wayne (Cash Money Records/Universal Motown)
Muse (Warner Bros. Records)
The Academy Is… (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
The Rapture (Universal Motown Records)

Alumni Woodie — (a.k.a. The You’re Still OK in our Book Award)
For the artists who’ve graduated into the wide world of mega-stardom, but who haven’t forgotten where they came from.  And we’re proud to say, “We knew them when…”
Nominees:
Bright Eyes (Saddle Creek Records)
Modest Mouse (Epic Records)
Spoon (Merge Records)
Talib Kweli (Warner Bros. Records)
The Shins (Sub Pop Records)

Viral Woodie — (Most Downloaded, Streamed, Blogged, etc.)
A category for those acts that crashed servers and blew up the World Wide Interwebs all year long.  For the next four weeks, these artists will go toe-to-toe on mtvU.com, with college students propelling their favorites into the finals. The four artists left standing will battle it out for the (not contagious) “Viral Woodie.”
Nominees:
WEEK 1
Akon, “Don’t Matter” (Universal Motown Records)
Gym Class Heroes, “Shoot Down the Stars” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Lily Allen, “Smile” (Capitol Records)
Linkin Park, “What I’ve Done” (Warner Bros. Records)
The Shins, “Phantom Limb” (Sub Pop Records)

WEEK 2
The Academy Is…, “We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
M.I.A., “Boyz” (Interscope Records)
Modest Mouse, “Dashboard” (Epic Records)
The Decemberists, “O Valencia! (contest version)” (Capitol Records)
T-Pain featuring Yung Joc, “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” (Jive Records)

WEEK 3
Arcade Fire, “Neon Bible” (Merge Records)
DJ Khaled, “We Takin’ Over” (Koch Records)
Fall Out Boy, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Paramore, “Misery Business” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Shiny Toy Guns, “You Are the One” (Universal Motown Records)

WEEK 4
Cold War Kids, “Hang Me Up to Dry” (Downtown Records)
Justice, “D.A.N.C.E.” (Downtown Records/Vice Records)
Meg & Dia, “Monster” (Warner Bros. Records/Doghouse Records)
My Chemical Romance, “Welcome to the Black Parade” (Warner Bros. Records)
T.I., “Big Things Poppin’ (Do It)” (Atlantic Records)