Humane Society sets pic, doc, TV noms

The Humane Society of the U.S. has announced "Dolphin Tale," "Rio," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "War Horse" as the feature film nominees for its 26th Genesis Award. The HSUS nod honors various media in 19 categories for their exploration of animal protection issues. Pics nommed in the feature documentary category are "Born to Be Wild 3D," "Buck" and "One Lucky Elephant." For TV, "The Cleveland Show," "The Colbert Report" and "Melissa & Joey" are nommed for the Sid Caesar Comedy Award while "The Glades" and "Hawaii Five-0" are nommed in the dramatic skeins category. Sue Blackmore of the HSUS Hollywood office anticipated one likely question on kudos-watchers' minds regarding the film noms: She noted that while Uggie the dog played a prominent and memorable role in "The Artist," the pic does not explicitly address animal protection themes and hence did not make the org's shortlist. "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba will host the org's awards gala ceremony at the Beverly Hilton on March 24. Event will also be broadcast as a one-hour special on Animal Planet in May. For more info, including the complete list of nominees, visit www.humanesociety.org. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com