Johnston at the Ajijic International Film Festival 1999, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for Best Family Film from the Broadcast Film Critics Association in 2000, and a Humanitas Prize 1999 for Featured Film Category. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated Differences between the film and book The movie was praised for its portrayal of 1950s Appalachia despite several major and minor differences from the book on which it is based. Homer Hickam is the main character's name; in the book and in real life he was nicknamed "Sonny". Homer Hickam Jr.'s father was not named John. This was changed in an effort to keep the audience from being confused. There were actually six "rocket boys" rather than the four in the movie. Some of the movie's representations of the characters are combinations of the real-life boys. Their names were: Homer Hickam Jr., Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O'Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke, Billy Rose and Sherman Siers. The Rocket Boys did not steal railroad parts as in the film; however, they did attempt to grab a cast iron pipe under the tracks and, according to Homer's website, this almost got him killed. While the boys were accused of starting a fire, they were never detained. The police soon realized that their rockets could not have traveled over 3 miles and the boys were exonerated. Homer never had to prove their innocence, as his character did in the film. Homer never dropped out of school to work in the town's mine. He did, however, work in the mine the following summer, as described in Hickam's book Sky of Stone. Homer never met Wernher von Braun - as it turns out, von Braun was looking for the Rocket Boys’ exhibit when Homer was looking for him; and they missed each other. Cultural impact There are two annual festivals in honor of the Rocket Boys and the film. One is held in West Virginia where the real-life events depicted in the book and film took place, and the other is in Tennessee where the movie was actually shot. The Rocket Boys often visit the festival in West Virginia, which is also called the "Rocket Boys Festival", while the festival in Tennessee focuses more on the filming locations. The Tennessee festival's site claims that the festival is "a celebration of our heritage." Jeff Bezos,