The 16th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards was held on April 12, 2003, hosted by Rosie O'Donnell. The award show was held in the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California. This was the last time O'Donnell would host the awards. By this point, she had hosted the awards seven times in a row. The announcers were Daran Norris and Susanne Blakeslee from The Fairly OddParents, in character as Cosmo and Wanda, respectively, for the event.
The show took the theme of video games with pixel art and controllers for various games. This was also integrated into the storyline where the slime was taken by a villain known as "The Slimeinator" and various stars played video games (which happen to be the ones nominated for Favorite Video Game) and try to get the slime back just in time for Tony Hawk to jump into a vat of slime.