Treehouse celebrates Dora the Explorer's 10th anniversary with the premiere
of Dora's Big Birthday Adventure

Fans are invited to attend Dora and Friend's Celebration at the CN Tower on August 5

Nickelodeon's Beyond the Backpack pro-social campaign to launch in honour of Dora the Explorer's landmark anniversary

TORONTO, Aug. 3 /CNW/ - Corus Entertainment's premium preschool network Treehouse is honouring the 10^th anniversary of the world-wide hit Dora the Explorer with the premiere of the hour-long primetime movie Dora's Big Birthday Adventure on Sunday, August 15 at 6 p.m. ET, airing day and date with Nickelodeon in the U.S.

"Dora has a huge audience following on both Treehouse and Nickelodeon (Canada) and we are thrilled to give our viewers the chance to enjoy more of this popular show with these special 10^th anniversary celebrations," said Jocelyn Hamilton, VP, Programming and Production, Corus Kids. "We are proud to commemorate this important milestone in kids television through this programming event, along with celebrations in Toronto, and by supporting the Breakfast for Learning program - an important initiative that changes kids' lives."

Reaching 2.5 million Canadian viewers a month, Dora the Explorer is a preschool favourite seen in over 151 markets around the world and translated in more than 30 languages. To celebrate, viewers are invited to tune into the one-hour premiere of Dora's Big Birthday Adventure guest-starring the voices of Rosie Perez as the witch, John Leguizamo as the flying monkeys, and Hector Elizondo as the wishing wizzle. The final installment of the Magic Storybook Trilogy, Dora and Boots find their way home for Dora's birthday party where all of her family and friends are waiting to celebrate with her. Dora's Big Birthday Adventure premieres on Treehouse day and date with Nickelodeon in the U.S. on Sunday, August 15 at 6 p.m.

In addition to the programming event, Dora's 10^th anniversary will be honoured at the Dora and Friend's Celebration on Thursday, August 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CN Tower in Toronto. Young fans will be invited to participate in special activities as well as meet and greets with their favourite Nick characters, Kai-lan, SpongeBob and Diego. Fans can also check out a Dora cake made out of Mega Bloks as they watch popular Dora episodes, take home loot bags and enter for a chance to win great prizes.

Treehouse and Nickelodeon (Canada) are also marking this world famous and beloved Latina heroine with a unique pro-social campaign entitled Beyond the Backpack. Beginning on Wednesday, August 11, Treehouse will launch a fundraising auction of limited-edition Dora backpacks, with designs by Salma Hayek Pinault and other celebrities. Proceeds from the Canadian Beyond the Backpack program will benefit Breakfast for Learning, a national non-profit organization dedicated to student nutrition programs that enhance learning, and the healthy development of children and youth in Canada. Offering nutrition grants, program support and educational materials, Breakfast for Learning focuses on community-centered programming, delivering breakfast, lunch and snack programs in inclusive and nurturing environments. Visit www.TreehouseTV.com/dora for more auction information.

Dora the Explorer, created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner, is a play-along, animated adventure series starring Dora. Dora is a seven-year-old Latina heroine whose adventures take place in an imaginative, tropical world filled with jungles, beaches and rainforests. She explores her world just as preschoolers do every day, and the show is designed to actively engage its audience in an interactive quest using a variety of learning techniques.

In every episode, Dora and Boots invite the audience to participate in an exciting adventure, where each step of their journey consists of a problem or puzzle that Dora and the audience must think their way through in order to solve the next problem. Dora is proudly bilingual and uses her knowledge of English and Spanish to communicate with her friends, overcome obstacles and reach her goals. In each episode, Dora teaches Spanish words or phrases to the viewers and then asks them to use it to solve a problem and forge ahead. Ultimately, Dora and her best friend, Boots, triumph, and the story always ends with a "We Did It!" anthem. Viewers can tune into Dora the Explorer every day of the week at 4:30 p.m. on Treehouse.

Viewers can catch two repeat airings of Dora's Big Birthday Adventure on Monday, August 16 and Wednesday, August 25 at 2 p.m. on Nickelodeon (Canada).

Dora the Explorer is a Nicktoons Production and is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California.

Working to ensure every child in Canada attends school well-nourished and ready to learn, Breakfast for Learning is a national non-profit organization that starts and sustains school-based child nutrition programs through grants, ongoing support, and child nutrition resources and research. Having served over 300 million meals to date, Breakfast for Learning continues to utilize a community development model with over 30,000 volunteers who deliver breakfast, lunch and/or snack programs across the country. In 2008-2009, Breakfast for Learning provided funding to 2,900 programs, providing healthy meals and snacks to over 222,000 children and youth. For more information, visit www.breakfastforlearning.ca.

Treehouse, seen in over eight million homes across Canada, offers premium preschool programming and a rich co-viewing environment for children and their parents. Delivering a strong balance of educational, values-rich and entertaining programs, Treehouse delivers high-quality children's series from Canada and around the world. A parent-trusted brand, Treehouse's highly interactive website, www.TreehouseTV.com reaches over half-a-million moms per month. Treehouse is part of the Corus Kids family of brands including YTV, Nickelodeon (Canada), Nelvana Studio and Kids Can Press.

Treehouse is owned by Corus Entertainment Inc., a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's animation. The company's multimedia entertainment brands include YTV, Nickelodeon (Canada), W Network, CosmoTV, VIVA, Sundance Channel (Canada), Movie Central, HBO Canada, Nelvana, Kids Can Press and radio stations including CKNW, CFOX, CKOI, 98,5 FM, Q107 and 102.1 the Edge. Corus creates engaging branded entertainment experiences for its audiences across multiple platforms. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR.B) and New York (CJR) exchanges. Experience Corus on the web at www.corusent.com.

All Treehouse times are ET.

For high-resolution images, please visit: http://mediacentre.corusent.com

For further information:

Molly Ray
Senior Publicist
Corus Entertainment
416.479.6087
[email protected]