AR-News: 18th Annual Genesis Award Winners

[Sue Blackmore]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH
ANNUAL GENESIS AWARDS

³Finding Nemo² Makes Waves and ³Legally Blonde 2² Makes its Case For Animals
 Along With 19 Other Wins at Upcoming Genesis Awards on March 20

Hollywood, CA ­ February 23, 2004 ­ Walt Disney Pictures presentation of the
Pixar Animation Studios film, ³Finding Nemo,² MGM's ³Legally Blonde 2,²
³Everybody Loves Raymond,² CBS News With Dan Rather, Animal Planet¹s ³Cell
Dogs,² KCET-TV's Life & Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine and Marvel Comic¹s
³X-Men Unlimited² are among the 21 eclectic recipients of the Eighteenth
Annual Genesis Awards, presented by The Hollywood Office of The Humane
Society of The United States (HSUS), celebrating 50 years of protecting
animals. The Genesis Awards will be presented on Saturday, March 20, 2004 at
a gala ceremony in the International Ballroom of The Beverly Hilton, Beverly
Hills, CA. The show will be taped and edited for a two-hour Television
Special airing on Animal Planet on April 25th.

Honoring the news and entertainment media for a rich and varied range of
works from 2003, which offered both groundbreaking coverage of emerging
animal issues, as well as fresh perspectives on continuing injustices, the
Eighteenth Annual Genesis Awards will once again demonstrate that ³Cruelty
Can¹t Stand The Spotlight.²

³I¹m delighted that on the occasion of HSUS¹50th Anniversary, the Genesis
Awards will celebrate a vintage year for positive animal messages in the
media," says Gretchen Wyler, vice president of The HSUS Hollywood Office.
³Hugely successful movies like "Legally Blonde 2" and the Academy Award
nominated "Finding Nemo" - with a combined domestic box office of $430
million - are a testament to the fact that a new consciousness of
animal-protection is emerging and is striking a chord with mainstream
audiences.²

Designed to encourage the next generation of journalists and filmmakers, the
Eighteenth Annual Genesis Awards has instituted its first National Student
Award. And in response to the diversity and influence of today¹s niche
media, Marvel Comics X-Men Unlimited gets a much-deserved nod for a message
that says no to animal cruelty.

"While acknowledging the latest in break-through media coverage, we are
proud to have British actress and animal campaigner Virginia McKenna, OBE,
as our Guest of Honor," adds Wyler. "Virginia's classic sixties movie "Born
Free" was ahead of it time in advocating respect for wild animals and their
right to live freely."

Among this year's celebrity presenters and attendees are: Billy Baldwin,
David Boreanaz, James Cromwell, Miguel Ferrer, Jorja Fox, Daryl Hannah, Bill
Maher, Wendy Malick, Chynna Phillips Baldwin, Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Doris
Roberts, Alicia Silverstone, Amy Smart and David Sutcliffe.

Winners are selected from material released in 2003. Entries are submitted
by members of the news and entertainment industry or by "people's choice,"
with finalists voted upon by the 17-member Genesis Awards Committee.

Gretchen Wyler and Robert Halmi, Sr. are the executive producers and Paul
Flattery is the producer of the Television Special. Corporate Underwriting
is provided by Delta Air Lines, and sponsors include MBNA America Bank, N.A
and MassMutual Financial Group.

A complete list of winners of the Eighteenth Annual Genesis Awards follows:

Feature Film: "Legally Blonde 2" (MGM)
For boldly placing an animal advocacy message at the heart of a mainstream
Hollywood movie, with the unstoppable Elle Woods taking on animal testing
and Capitol Hill, proving that animal issues can make it big at the box
office!

Feature Film Animated: "Finding Nemo" (A Walt Disney Pictures presentation
of a Pixar Animation Studios film)
For going where few animated features have gone before ­ to the depths of
the sea to portray fish as feeling creatures who deserve to swim in the
freedom of the vast oceans, and not the confines of a 4'x4' fish tank!

Comedy Series: "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS)
For a brilliantly conceived script brimming with irony about the double
standards shown toward the fate of an injured little bird, compared to the
prevailing notion that a turkey is nothing more than a Thanksgiving feast.

National News Feature: CBS News With Dan Rather ­ "Food Fight"
For illustrating the ultimate power of the consumer in driving the trend
toward improving the conditions of animals raised for 'fast food,' and for
showing the humane community that its efforts to reach a caring public have
not been in vain.

Cable Documentary: "Hunting in America" (National Geographic Channel)
For a compelling and balanced look at hunting from the growing number of
women joining the country¹s 13 million licensed sport hunters to those
vigorously campaigning against the killing of defenseless animals, leaving
the overall impression that there is nothing Œsporting¹ about hunting.

Cable Documentary Series: National Geographic Ultimate Explorer (MSNBC)
For venturing into dangerous locations to investigate critical global animal
issues, including poaching in Cambodia; the illegal ŒShahtoosh¹ wool trade,
threatening a rare Tibetan antelope, and saving gorillas whose only hope for
survival is to become habituated to humans.

PBS Documentary: National Geographic Special: "In Search Of The Jaguar"
For providing a rare window into the threatened world of the South American
Jaguar, and illustrating how one man¹s quest to save the species is driven
by his life altering affinity for animals and the struggle against terminal
illness.

Reality Programming: "Cell Dogs" (Animal Planet)
For an inspiring series focusing on an extraordinary prison program, teaming
unwanted shelter dogs with death row inmates whose task of rehabilitating
their new canine friends gives new meaning to the lives of these hardened
criminals and puts the dogs back on track for adoption.

Children's Programming ­ Series: "Braceface" (ABC Family)
For an ongoing commitment to educating and entertaining young audiences
about a range of important animal issues through the compassionate voice of
Sharon, whose feisty approach to injustice is a lesson to us all!

Children's Programming ­ Television Movie: "Bike Squad" (Showtime)
For raising the bar in presenting serious animal cruelty issues to children
with an engaging story about the pervasive, yet rarely acknowledged crime of
stealing and selling dogs to laboratories for research.

Local News Series: (Shared) KIRO-TV (Seattle) ­ "Downer Cows"
For a trailblazing series of reports sounding the alarm about the cruelty of
dragging Œdowner cows¹ ­ injured cattle who cannot walk ­ to slaughter for
human consumption, in the days before Œmad cow¹ disease hit the headlines,
forcing the USDA to finally ban it.

Local News Series: (Shared) KGO-TV (Bay Area) ­ "Foie Gras Fight"
For a groundbreaking expose of the California foie gras industry, featuring
footage of the barbaric practice of force-feeding geese and ducks until
their livers swell to three times their normal size to create a culinary
delicacy that, thanks to this shocking report, is likely to be taken off the
menu! 

Local News Feature: KARE-TV (Minnesota) "Dolittle Delusion"
For a damning portrait of an exotic cat breeder, whose tiger facility has
been likened to a concentration camp, calling attention to the dangerous
trend of keeping big cats as pets, a demand that led to the Captive Wildlife
Safety Act, aimed at restricting this escalating trade.

Local PBS Series: Life & Times "Paw Project" KCET (Los Angeles)
For an unprecedented report on the appalling effects of domestic and wild
cat de-clawing and the tireless campaign by Dr. Jennifer Conrad of Paw
Project to spread the word, resulting in West Hollywood¹s decision to ban
the cruel and unnecessary procedure.

Brigitte Bardot International: Biker Jens: A Life On The Edge
(Denmark/Norway)
For debunking the world of bullfighting in a reality series in which a
dare-devil tough guy discovers first-hand that this blood sport and
so-called Œart form¹ is a despicably cruel and unfair contest, weighted
against the bull and in favor of the Œbrave¹ matador.

Doris Day Music Award ­ Classic: "Born Free" Music by John Barry, lyrics by
Don Black. Title song from the 1966 Movie, "Born Free."
For a joyous marriage of music and lyric that is both timeless and timely in
its celebration of animals who deserve to live freely in the wild.

Newspaper Magazine Feature: Los Angeles Times Magazine "Plenty to Squawk
About" by Mira Tweti
For an alarming and in-depth examination of the exotic bird trade and the
plight of these rare and magnificent birds who are plucked from the tropical
skies, bought by an ill informed public and condemned to live incarcerated
as caged pets.

Series of Newspaper Articles: The Charlotte Observer ­ 3-part series ³Death
At The Pound² by Scott Dodd and Michelle Couch
For a hard-hitting 3-part series, galvanizing city officials and the public
into seeking ways to reduce the staggering and above-average number of dogs
and cats ending up at its local shelter, destined for euthanasia.

Artistic Achievement: X-Men Unlimited ­ ³Can They Suffer?² by Chuck Austen,
Marvel Comics
For expanding the signature X-Men message of empathy toward living beings
from this planet and beyond to include the most abused species of all ­
animals, whose suffering the heroic and popular X-Men will not tolerate!

Cartoon: Bizarro by Dan Piraro
For creating over two dozen cartoons that dare to touch upon the most
controversial of animal issues with an incisive wit that cuts to the quick.

Student Award: "Remembering Bob" by Maria Brenner, University of Southern
California
For a poignant and deceptively simple short film that says a great deal
about our conditioned, yet conflicted attitude to animals used for food,
suggesting that a child¹s inclination to view them as pets is an instinct
worth carrying into adulthood.

The HSUS is the nation's largest animal protection organization with over
seven million members and constituents. The HSUS Hollywood Office is devoted
to raising public awareness of animal issues through the major media. The
HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion
animals, wildlife, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable
agriculture. For 50 years, The HSUS has protected all animals through
legislation, litigation, investigation, education, advocacy and field work.
The non-profit organization is based in Washington, DC and has 10 regional
offices across the country. For more information, visit The HSUS¹ Web site ­
www.hsus.org.

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For More Information: Lisa Elia, Lisa Elia Public Relations: 310 393 9547
Sue Blackmore, HSUS Hollywood Office: 818 501 2275