mtvU, which can be viewed on 750 college cable systems, has announced its nominees for the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards (listed below). You can vote for the nominees and watch video clips at the mtvU site.

The nominee list contrasts sharply with the one from the recent 2007 Video Music Awards. Many modern/indie names are up for woodies, like The Shins, Silversun Pickups, The Knife, TV on the Radio, CSS and others. Justice and Peter Bjorn & John, who were the only modern electronic and rock acts acknowledged by the MTV VMAs, are nominated respectively for Best Video and emerging-artist Woodies.

Here’s the full list with category descriptions as provided by the mtvU press release:

Woodie of the Year – (Artist of the Year)
The artists who made the biggest splash on mtvU and the college music scene this past year.

Nominees:
Amy Winehouse (Universal Republic Records)
Common (Geffen Records)
Gym Class Heroes (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Lily Allen (Capitol Records)
The Shins (Sub Pop Records)

The Breaking Woodie – (Best Emerging Artist)
mtvU is where new developing artists are test driven for the first time by the toughest critics around: college students. One of this year’s newest artists will win the coveted “Breaking Woodie.”

Nominees:
Boys Like Girls (Columbia Records)
Peter Bjorn & John (Columbia Records)
Rich Boy (Interscope Records)
Silversun Pickups (Dangerbird Records)
Tokyo Police Club (Paper Bag Records)

Left Field Woodie – (Most Original Artist)
They’re genre-busters. They resist classification. They came out of left field, and we’re still not sure what section of the record store to find them in.

Nominees:
CSS (Sub Pop Records)
Klaxons (Geffen Records)
Madvillain (Stones Throw Records)
Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO Records)
The Knife (Mute Records)

Best Video Woodie – (Best Video of the Year)
The music video that is so incredible, we’d watch it even without the music.

Nominees:
Justice, “D.A.N.C.E.” (Downtown Records/Vice Records)
Motion City Soundtrack, “Broken Heart” (Epitaph)
RJD2, “Work It Out” (XL)
Say Anything, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too” (J Records)
TV on the Radio, “Province” (Interscope Records)

The Good Woodie – (Greatest Social Impact)
The award for the artists whose commitment to a social cause has effected the greatest change this year.

Nominees:
Alicia Keys – “Keep a Child Alive”; promoting care for HIV/AIDS-infected children in Africa (J Records)
Guster – “Reverb”; “greened” more than 600 concerts in the last three years (Warner Bros. Records)
Linkin Park – “Music for Relief”; aids victims of world catastrophes and combats global warming (Warner Bros. Records)
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – mental health awareness efforts (Capitol Records)
Thom Yorke – “Friends of the Earth”; fighting for legislation to prevent global warming (Beggars Group)

Performing Woodie – (Best Tour)
For those artists who take to the road and never let up, always giving that memorable live performance.

Nominees:
Daft Punk (Capitol Records)
Lil’ Wayne (Cash Money Records/Universal Motown)
Muse (Warner Bros. Records)
The Academy Is… (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
The Rapture (Universal Motown Records)

Alumni Woodie – (a.k.a. The You’re Still OK in our Book Award)
For the artists who’ve graduated into the wide world of mega-stardom, but who haven’t forgotten where they came from. And we’re proud to say, “We knew them when…”

Nominees:
Bright Eyes (Saddle Creek Records)
Modest Mouse (Epic Records)
Spoon (Merge Records)
Talib Kweli (Warner Bros. Records)
The Shins (Sub Pop Records)

Viral Woodie – (Most Downloaded, Streamed, Blogged, etc.)
A category for those acts that crashed servers and blew up the World Wide Interwebs all year long. For the next four weeks, these artists will go toe-to-toe on mtvU.com, with college students propelling their favorites into the finals. The four artists left standing will battle it out for the (not contagious) “Viral Woodie.”

Nominees:
WEEK 1
Akon, “Don’t Matter” (Universal Motown Records)
Gym Class Heroes, “Shoot Down the Stars” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Lily Allen, “Smile” (Capitol Records)
Linkin Park, “What I’ve Done” (Warner Bros. Records)
The Shins, “Phantom Limb” (Sub Pop Records)
WEEK 2
The Academy Is…, “We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
M.I.A., “Boyz” (Interscope Records)
Modest Mouse, “Dashboard” (Epic Records)
The Decemberists, “O Valencia! (contest version)” (Capitol Records)
T-Pain featuring Yung Joc, “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” (Jive Records)
WEEK 3
Arcade Fire, “Neon Bible” (Merge Records)
DJ Khaled, “We Takin’ Over” (Koch Records)
Fall Out Boy, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Paramore, “Misery Business” (Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen)
Shiny Toy Guns, “You Are the One” (Universal Motown Records)
WEEK 4
Cold War Kids, “Hang Me Up to Dry” (Downtown Records)
Justice, “D.A.N.C.E.” (Downtown Records/Vice Records)
Meg & Dia, “Monster” (Warner Bros. Records/Doghouse Records)
My Chemical Romance, “Welcome to the Black Parade” (Warner Bros. Records)
T.I., “Big Things Poppin’ (Do It)” (Atlantic Records)