Nickelodeon's "Penguins of Madagascar" has received eight nominations for the 38th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Children's Animated Program.

Rounding out the nominations for the Outstanding Children's Animated Program category are four other shows: Nickelodeon's The Backyardigans and PBS series Curious George, Dinosaur Train and Sid the Science Kid.

Nominees were announced Wednesday da the National Academy of Televisione Arts & Sciences.

The announcement included four winners in the category of Individual Achievement in animazione chosen da a juried panel of peer judges. They are "Diamond" Dave Merritt, Background design for Toot & Puddle (NICK Jr.); Vince Toyama, Background design for Transformers Prime (The Hub); Christophe Vacher, Color design for Transformers Prime; and Kaz Aizawa, Background Painter for T.U.F.F. cucciolo (Nickelodeon).

The two Outstanding Special Class Animated Program nominees are Nickelodeon shows Back at the aia, barnyard and Fanboy and Chum Chum.

For Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program, the nominees are Bill Farmer, as Goofy (Disney Mickey topo, mouse Clubhouse, Disney Channel); Danny Jacobs, as King Julien (Penguins of Madagascar); Tom McGrath, as Skipper (Penguins of Madagascar); Martin Short, as The Cat in the Hat (The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, PBS); Peter Cullen, as Optimus Prime (Transformers Prime); and Steven Tyler, as The Mad Hatter (The Wonder Pets!, Nickelodeon).

In the category of Outstanding Directing In An Animated Program, the nominees are Disney Kick Buttowski (DisneyXD; Directors: Chris Savino and Sherm Cohen), Fanboy and Chum Chum (Directors: Brian Sheesley, Jim Schumann and Russell Calabrese; Voice Director: Ginny McSwain), Martha Speaks (PBS; Supervising Director: Dallas Parker; Co-Director: Colleen Holub; Voice Director: Terry Klassen), Penguins of Madagascar (Supervising Director: Nick Filippi; Directors: Christo Stamboliev and Dave Knott; Voice Director: Lisa Schaffer), Toot & Puddle (Director: Christian Larocque; animazione Directors: Graham MacDonald and Emmanuelle Gignac; Voice Director: Dee Shipley) and Transformers Prime (Supervising Director: David Hartman; Directors: Shaunt Nigoghossian, Todd Waterman and Vinton Heuck; Voice Director: Susan Blu).

Outstanding Scrivere In animazione nominees are Arthur (PBS; Executive Story Editor: Peter Hirsch; Writers: Gentry Menzel, David Steven Cohen, P. Kevin Strader and Jonathan Greenberg), Back at the aia, barnyard (Writers: Gene Grillo, Tom Sheppard and Dan Serafin), Dinosaur Train (Writers: Craig Bartlett, Joe Purdy and Elise Allen), Penguins of Madagascar (Writers: Brandon Sawyer, Bill Motz and Bob Roth), Transformers Prime (Writer/Producer: Duane Capizzi, Writers: Steven Melching, Nicole Dubuc, Joseph Kuhr and Marsha Griffin) and WordGirl (PBS; Head Writer: Tom Martin; Writers: Eric Ledgin, Jack Ferraiolo, John Huss, Ryan Raddatz and Carla Filisha).

All six nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Musica Direction And Composition are for animated o partly animated shows. These are Between the Lions (PBS; Musica Director and Composer: Paul Jacobs; Composers: Sarah Durkee and Christopher Cerf), Disney Mickey topo, mouse Clubhouse (Music Directors: Mike Himelstein and Mike Turner), The Garfield mostra (Cartoon Network; Musica Directors and Composers: Laurent Bertaud and Jean-Christophe Prudhomme), Penguins of Madagascar (Composer: Adam Berry), Transformers Prime (Composer: Brian Tyler) and The Wonder Pets! (Music Director: Jeffrey Lesser; Lead Composer: Larry Hochman; Composer: J Walter Hawkes).

Up for Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series are Disney Kick Buttowski (Casting Director: Aaron Drown), Fanboy and Chum Chum (Casting Director: Meredith Layne) and Penguins of Madagascar (Casting Director: Meredith Layne).

Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series nominees include Between the Lions, Disney Mickey topo, mouse Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba! (Nickelodeon).

Nominees for Outstanding Promotional Announcement - Episodic include the launch trailer for Nickelodeon's cartoon series Bubble Guppies.

Among the nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and animazione are Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 (Cartoon Network; Sound Editors: Jeff Davis and Jonny Ludgate; Dialogue Editor: Gordon Sproule), Penguins of Madagascar (Supervising Sound Editors: James Lifton and Paulette Lifton; Musica Editor: Dominick Certo; Sound Effects Editors: Ian Nyeste, Matt Hall and Lawrence Reyes) and WordGirl (Dialogue Editor: Patrick Downie; Musica Editor and Sound Designer: Joe Pleiman).

For Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Live Action and Animation, the nominees include Between the Lions (Production Mixers: Nick Cipriano, Joe Franco, Jeff Malinowski, Jared O'Connell, John Zanakis and Matt Longoria).

Nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic design include Between the Lions and Yo Gabba Gabba!.

The theme song for Disney Kick Buttowski, composed da Andy Sturmer and James Childs, is one of two Daytime Emmy nominees for Outstanding Original Song. Among the nominees for Outstanding Original Song - Children''s and animazione is the opening theme for The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, composed da David Schweitzer.

One of the four nominees for Outstanding Children's Series is the partly animated FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman (PBS). The series also has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Single Camera Editing.

For Outstanding Achievement in Main titolo and Graphic Design, the nominees include Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon), FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman and Team Umizoomi (NICK Jr.).

Leading the complessivamente, generale nominations is daytime drama General Hospital, with 21 nods, followed da The Young and the Restless, with 20.

The Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards will be broadcast from Las Vegas for the secondo anno in a row on Sunday, June 19 over CBS, hosted da Wayne Brady, the Emmy-winning actor, singer, and comedian and host of the CBS game mostra Let's Make a Deal.

"It is with great pleasure that the Daytime Emmy Awards returns to the CBS Network again," detto NATAS chairman Darryl Cohen. "The Daytime Emmy Awards is one of the cornerstones of our business, and this year's Las Vegas-based celebration, produced with our broadcast partner, Associated Televisione International, and hosted da Wayne Brady promises to be an exciting evening of entertainment."

The 38th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to game mostra hosts Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune and Alex Trebek of Jeopardy!. "In honoring Pat and Alex, we're honoring not only two of the great game shows throughout the history of television," detto Cohen, "but two individuals whose talent and personality have dato us an additional reason to tune in and watch."

Associated Televisione International president and Emmy-winning producer David McKenzie will serve as executive producer of the broadcast.

The Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards gala will return to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday, June 17.