The Springfield Hometown Movies have been judged, the votes have been tallied - and in a closely-fought contest, Springfield, Vermont has emerged as the winner of The Simpsons Movie Hometown Movie Challenge.

On July 21, Twentieth Century Fox will roll out the "yellow carpet" at Springfield, Vermont's Springfield Theaters for the premiere screening event of The Simpsons Movie, where attendees will get the V.I.P. treatment - and be among the first in the world to see the long-anticipated movie before it hits theaters.

Springfield, Vermont was one of fourteen "Springfields" around the nation that competed to win the film's Hometown Premiere. All, of course, share their name with the hometown of the world's first family of comedy - The Simpsons.

USA TODAY, The Nation's Newspaper, invited its readers to vote for their favorite Springfield Hometown Movie through a website and voting page on USATODAY.com. The contest was an enormous success with 109,582 votes cast online, and more than 20,000 reader comments; a new record for USATODAY.com. Springfield, Vt., won the competition with 15,367 votes. Springfield, Ill., came a close second with 14,634 and Springfield, Ore., was third place with 13,894 votes. Full results for all participating "Springfields" can be seen at www.thesimpsons.usatoday.com.

Offering their best wishes to the residents of Springfield, Vermont, the filmmakers behind The Simpsons Movie commented, "Congratulations on proving the old adage that when you put a bald guy together with a giant doughnut, the world will beat a path to your door."

The 13 other Springfields need not "D'oh!" They'll each be given a screening of their own the night before the movie hits theaters July 27. "It's a futile attempt to prove that Hollywood has a heart," the filmmakers added.

The fourteen participating Springfields were: Massachusetts, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana - and the winner, Vermont. Each participating Springfield submitted a short film, 3-5 minutes long, showcasing the community's "Simpson Spirit."

Twentieth Century Fox provided entrants with key Simpson's filmmaking tools, including a digital video camera, The Simpsons Movie couch theatre display, The Simpsons Movie posters, digital files of the film's logo and character art - and Simpsons-yellow paint.

It takes a wide screen to fully capture Homer Simpson's stupidity, and The Simpsons Movie does it. In the eagerly-awaited animated feature film based on the hit TV series, Homer must save the world from a catastrophe he himself created.

Starring in the animated film are Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, and Albert Brooks.

Producing the feature are "The Simpsons" series executive producer James L. Brooks, creator Matt Groening, current showrunner Al Jean, Mike Scully and Richard Sakai. The script is written by Groening, Brooks, Jean, Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti - all series veterans.

David Silverman (Monsters Inc.), the series' supervising animation director, is helming the feature.

The Simpsons Movie was released July 27th, 2007 and stars Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, Marcia Wallace, Billie Joe Armstrong. The film is directed by David Silverman.