Music channel MTV has announced the nominees for the 2002 MTV Movie Awards. Peter Jackson's fantasy involving hobbits and wizards The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring tops this year's list with six nominations. It was also announced that the eleventh annual awards show will return to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The show will be taped on 1 June

The star-studded awards ceremony will air on 6 June in the US. The official sponsors are 7-Up, GM, Loreal, Apple, Evian, Hyundai, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Visa, Wendy's and Mars.

The show will be seen in 165 countries/territories via 35 channels, in 18 languages in 382.1 million households, an official release states. Fans can cast their votes till 18 May by visiting MTV.com.

Last year, more people than ever in its ten-year history tuned into the 2001 MTV Movie Awards, which aired 7 June. Twenty million viewers watched the prime-time or repeat telecast that evening, with over 15 million viewers tuning into the premiere alone, the release states.

Interestingly, A Beautiful Mind, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, got just one nomination - Russell Crowe for Best Male. Other critics' favourites like Memento, Mullholland Drive and Gosford Park drew a blank.

Ridley Scott's war film Black Hawk Down and the animation delight Shrek compete with Rings for the Best Picture prize. Oscar winner Halle Berry in Monster's Ball competes for best female performance. Also nominated are Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale for the critically lampooned Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Pearl Harbour respectively

Oscar winner Denzel Washington should win Best Villain for Training Day. Tom Hanks' son Colin has been nominated in the Breakthrough Male category for Orange County along with Daniel Radcliffe who plays the title role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Not surprisingly Baz Lurhmann's post modern 'Moulin Rouge' picked up a couple of nominations for Best Musical Sequence.

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