The shortlist nominees for the 2012 CLIOs — the awards that honor excellence in advertising, design and communications — were announced Wednesday. This year's major contendors include TV and movie ads from HBO's "True Blood," Coke, Hallmark, IKEA, Levis, McDonalds, MTV, Nike, Oreos and Volkswagen.
HBO received four nominations in the Film category, including three for its spots promoting the network's HBO Go service.
Joan Rivers will host the May 15 awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where photographer Annie Leibovitz and chef/TV host/author Anthony Bourdain will receive honorary CLIOs.
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The CLIOs are presented in 16 categories, including Film (television/cinema, online, mobile), Interactive (apps, games, social media), Print (copywriting, photography, typography) and Content & Contact, which recognizes campaigns that use both traditional and non-traditional forms of advertising.
After a three-week judging process, CLIO juries whittled the list of entries down to nominees who will compete for Grand, Gold, Silver or Bronze statues in their respective categories at the 53rd annual awards.
Complete lists of all the shortlist nominees can be viewed at the CLIO Awards website.
Watch the CLIO-nominated HBO Go spots "Elevator," "Underdog" and "Yacht":