KUCHING, Jan 12: North Asia stole the show at the 23rd Asian Television Awards (ATA) gala dinner held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yesterday.
Some of the nominees surprised the judges with their extraordinary talents.
At the gathering, 28 of 42 award categories were up for grabs, and the winners were chosen by a panel of over 50 judges from across the region.
An ATA media statement today stated that leading the charts were award recipients from Korea — KBS for Best Documentary Programme (one-off/special), CJ E&M (Best Infotainment Programme), JTBC (Best Comedy Programme), Anyzac (Best 3D Animated Programme) and many more.
CGTN (China) received the award for Best Single News Story/Report (10mins or less) and for Best Current Affairs Programme, while NHK (Japan) received the Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme and Best Social Awareness Programme awards. TV18 (India) received the Best News Presenter or Anchor and Best Talk Show awards.
Other notable award recipients are Kohei Higuchi from Kansai TV (Japan) for Best Cinematography; Ken Chang from Formosa (Taiwan) for Best Original Screenplay and Starr Chen from TVBS (Taiwan) for Best Theme Song.
SF9, Qu Wanting, Via Vallen, Alvin Chong, Gary Valenciano, Kiana Valenciano and Winnie K were top Asian celebrities who performed at the gala dinner.
It was revealed that the judges were hand-picked based on their expertise and experience in the local and international entertainment scene.
Tonight (Jan 12), the remaining 14 awards for outstanding categories will be presented during the `Live Award Show’, where more than 50 top Asian celebrities will be attending.
Top Asian Celebrities that will be appearing include Derek Chun, James Kumar, Ase Wang, Cheng Rexen, Maylada Susri, Kim Nam Joo, Maneerat Kum-Uan, Hu Gua, Ah Xiang, Louis Scott, Ray Macdonald and Jirayu Tantrakul.
The 23rd ATA here is also in support of the `Visit Sarawak’ campaign organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports of Sarawak. — DayakDaily
