Other prominent nominees include Arcade Fire, Lil’ Wayne, Bright Eyes, Amy Winehouse, The Knife, Common, Klaxons, M.I.A., Spoon, CSS, The Rapture, TV on the Radio, Thom Yorke and Paramore. Nearly fifty emerging and influential artists are nominated for the fourth annual “mtvU Woodies.”

College student voting kicked off today on mtvU.com and runs through November 2nd. Winners will be crowned November 8th at Roseland Ballroom in New York City, during a live concert event, and be poised to follow in the footsteps of “Woodies” alumnus like Fall Out Boy (Streaming Woodie ’04), the Killers (Breaking Woodie ’04), Death Cab for Cutie (Best Video Woodie ’05) and Plain White Ts (Breaking Woodie ’06), all of which were catapulted to new heights – including surging record sales, headlining tours and accolades at other award shows – after winning an “mtvU Woodie.”

This year mtvU introduced a new nomination process for selecting “Woodies” nominees, offering writers from the College Media Network of more than 500 online student newspapers, as well as college radio djs nationwide, the opportunity to submit ballots and help pick the nominees. mtvU also debuts a new category this year, recognizing the best college act in the country with the same wooden trophy that’s helped launch the careers of some of today’s biggest stars. The inaugural “Best Music on Campus Woodie” will go to the artist that generates the most votes, streams and buzz on mtvU’s BestMusiconCampus.com over the next six weeks, and is open to all 1,700 college bands, emcees and musicians registered on the site. The top two finalists will be flown to New York, recognized alongside the acts that dominated the college music scene this year, and receive invaluable national and industry exposure. The “Best Music on Campus Woodie” winner will also get a $5,000 cash prize and the opportunity to score future mtvU shows.

Powered by college students from across the country, the fourth annual “mtvU Woodie Awards” will feature students in front of the camera and behind the scenes, as they present, introduce and honor their favorite music and artists. The show will premiere simultaneously on mtvU and mtvU.com November 15th at 8pm ET, with an encore performance on MTV2 November 18th at 12:30am ET; MTV will also showcase stand out performances from the 2007 “mtvU Woodies.”

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)

For more on “Woodie”-related programming, ways to win a trip to this year’s show, exclusive interviews with nominated artists and music videos from all of this year’s nominees, please visit mtvU.com. A full line-up of performers, presenters and more will be announced in the coming weeks.