Richard Gere to Receive Joel Siegel Award Presented by Diane Lane at VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Ceremony

Show To Be Broadcast Live On VH1 Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 9:00 PM (ET/PT)

Best Actress Nominee Kate Beckinsale, Best Supporting Actor and Actress Nominees Josh Brolin and Marisa Tomei and Academy Award(R) Winning Actor Dustin Hoffman are Among the Many Presenters for This Star-Studded Show

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced today that internationally renowned actor Richard Gere will be presented with the second annual Joel Siegel Award on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium during the 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards ceremony, which will air Live on VH1 at 9:00 PM (ET/PT).

Given annually, this special award pays homage to beloved "Good Morning America" film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June, 2007.

An accomplished advocate for human rights, Gere was the Co-founder and Chairman of Tibet House and joined the Board of Directors of the International Campaign for Tibet to more effectively address both national and international forums of influence. Second only to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Richard is the foremost public spokesman for the Tibetan crisis in forums from the United Nations to the United States Congress. He is a longtime sponsor of amfAR, Amnesty International, Survival International and Human Rights Watch. He has also focused on the battle against AIDS, working with the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Naz Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He launched the Heroes Project in 2002 in partnership with the Avahan AIDS Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"We consider the Joel Siegel Award to be the highest honor we bestow," explained BFCA President Joey Berlin. "From his days as a student activist in the civil rights movement, to co-founding Gilda's Club to support cancer patients and their friends and family and to writing `Lessons for Dylan' inspired by his own illness, Joel strived mightily to make the world a better place. Richard personifies the qualities this award was created to celebrate."

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards presenters include Amy Adams, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Common, Laura Dern, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning, Brendan Fraser, Sally Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Eva Longoria, Chris Noth, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Katy Perry, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Marisa Tomei. The awards show will feature the rock band Rooney as this year's house band.

The largest film critics' organization with more than 200 members in the United States and Canada on television, radio and the Internet, the BFCA selected nominees for awards in each of 17 categories. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in 2008. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

Counting down to the LIVE premiere of the Critics' Choice Awards, VH1 will air the "14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Red Carpet Premiere" pre-show LIVE on Thursday, January 8 at 8:30pm (ET/PT). Covering the excitement of the celebrity arrivals on the red carpet will be "KTLA Morning News" entertainment reporter Sam Rubin and No Good TV's Carrie Keagan. Interspersed throughout the red carpet arrivals will be live backstage reports from NBC and Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos as she gives viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the final preperations before the big show. The pre-show will be available on http://criticschoice.vh1.com later that evening.

VH1's "Critics' Choice Awards" site http://criticschoice.vh1.com, will be home to detailed information about the awards and will provide a forum for users to comment on this year's nominees. In the weeks leading up to the premiere VH1.com asked users to express their opinions on who they would pick to win the major categories online via user comments and opinion polls. This information will be fed to an online ticker that will run during the red carpet special and the poll results will be included in bumpers during the broadcast of the show. VH1.com will also have a live blog running during the show and post show, commenting on all the celebrities and excitement. Exclusive video footage from the event will include celebrity interviews, red carpet footage and more.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards are sponsored by Wal-Mart, AT&T and Crest Whitening Expressions.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards is executive produced by Bob Bain for Bob Bain Productions, Joey Berlin for Berlin Entertainment and Lee Rolontz for VH1.