Whether you’re an overnight-sensation singer or an action show staple, you have a place in the Teen Choice Awards. This year’s nominees again bear out the variety built into the event, which FOX will air Wednesday, Aug. 11 (three nights after the show is taped at the Universal Amphitheatre in Hollywood). Television, movies, music and sports are all represented in various categories — some of which extend to the offbeat, such as Choice Hissy Fit, Choice Liplock and Choice Sleazebag in motion pictures.

Familiar faces will abound on stage and in the audience. Among those slated to be on hand are Lindsay Lohan, Jennifer Garner, "Simple Life" travel partners Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Ashton Kutcher, Mischa Barton ("The O.C."), latest "American Idol" runner-up Diana DeGarmo, "Smallville" stars Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk, Ashlee Simpson, Gregory Smith ("Everwood"), skateboarder Tony Hawk, model Tyra Banks, Anne Hathaway ("The Princess Diaries"), Chad Michael Murray ("One Tree Hill," "A Cinderella Story") and surfer Bethany Hamilton.

While Fox’s "American Idol" is up for Choice Reality/Variety TV Show, and Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell are rivals for Choice TV Personality, DeGarmo isn’t an individual nominee ... but give it a year, since her single "Dreams" recently premiered on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart as the third-highest debut of 2004 so far. The 17-year-old vocal powerhouse from Snellville, Ga., says she’s "excited about attending the Teen Choice Awards. I’ve always watched it on TV, so actually going to it is really cool for me." DeGarmo also enjoys being a symbol of what teens can accomplish. "It’s great to think that somebody my age can do this when so many people have doubts," she says. "I just want to show people that age is only a number. It’s more about experience and actually going after what you want, instead of just deciding, ’I’m too young. I can’t do this.’ Christina Aguilera was signed to a record deal when she was 14, I think, and LeAnn Rimes was signed to one when she was 13. I want to prove that whether you’re 16 or 61, you can have a hit."

Now on a national tour with the other nine top finalists (including winner Fantasia Barrino) from the past season of "American Idol," DeGarmo also is recording her first album, for which she anticipates a fall release, and she’s getting a kick out of her friends’ reactions to all that has happened to her since this year began. "A friend of mine told me that someone saw her recently and said, ’That’s Diana DeGarmo’s friend!’ She didn’t know what to do, so she just kind of ran away. My friends have been really supportive, though. I’ve always told them, ’If I get a big head, just put me in my place.’ Luckily, they haven’t had to do that yet."

On the TV drama front, Kreuk is pleased to be a first-time Teen Choice nominee for her portrayal of Lana Lang on The WB Network’s "Smallville." Having attended the ceremony once before, she muses the experience was "kind of scary," since the celebrities are seated among highly enthusiastic fans. Still, Kreuk takes her nomination as acknowledgement of Lana coming into her own much more, what with her operating Smallville’s Talon theater-turned-coffeehouse and spending time in Paris lately.

"When you’re young and you’ve basically lived your whole life in one place, you can’t go away for a summer like that and not come back changed," Kreuk says, adding that she herself has changed in addressing concerns to the show’s writers and producers. "I’m still not completely comfortable doing it, but Lana has progressed so much, she’s just a joy to play."

Kreuk, who has spent part of her summer working with Isabella Rossellini on the upcoming Sci-Fi Channel miniseries "Earthsea," reports other alterations to "Smallville" for its fourth season. They include the arrival of Lana’s ultimate rival for Clark Kent (Welling): Lois Lane, to be played by relative newcomer and fellow Canadian Erica Durance. However, Lana won’t necessarily be sitting around waiting for Clark to make his choice. She’ll have a new love interest, too, portrayed by Jensen Ackles ("Days of Our Lives," "Dark Angel").

"I think actors are just like fans when a season ends," Kreuk reasons. "We don’t know what the heck’s going on, so we’re just as anxious to come back and find out what happens to the characters."

Kreuk got in some R&R after finishing her series work last season, visiting Paris with "Smallville" co-star Allison Mack ("research," she calls it with a laugh) and also traveling to Cuba and New York. Whatever the result of her Teen Choice Award nomination, Kreuk is ready to get back to the job that earned it for her. "It’s kind of hard to make everything that happens in Smallville seem real, but it’s been a great experience for me."