MUMBAI: The global television trade event Mipcom has announced the nominations for the second annual Mobile TV Screenings & Awards. 23 nominations and 10 special mentions will be presented during MIPCOM and the winners will be announced in a special screenings and awards Ceremony to be held in the Palais des Festivals, Cannes on 11 October, 2006.

Sponsored by Orange, Ericsson and the Korean Broadcasting Commission, the Mobile Screenings & Awards 2006 brought in a record number of 290 entries from 34 countries. This marks a 30 per cent increase in submissions from 2005.

For the second year running the competition recognises innovation and creativity in new mobile entertainment concepts and formats especially related to audiovisual TV and Film content.

Reed Midem’s Television Division director Paul Johnson says, “Mobile TV represents a growing opportunity for the audiovisual content industry. Mipcom is proud to take an active role in promoting the development of made-for-mobile content and facilitating commercial transactions on a global level for both TV and film.”

The Pre-selection Jury head and president of London based Any Screen Productions Ferhan Cook says, “The competition has attracted an even wider variety of genres, and new approaches from both existing well known entertainment companies as well as new ones.

“It is clear that the world’s creative community is hard at work, innovating new formats for the mobile medium.”

The 23 nominated entries are to be screened and judged by the Mobile TV Awards Jury at Mipcom from each of the following five categories: Best Original Made-for-Mobile Film or Video Content; Best Repurposed Content from Existing Film or TV Property; Best Made-for-Mobile TV Channel; Best Format for Interactive Mobile TV and Best Mobile format for User-Generated Content.

In addition to these five categories, there will also be The Orange Grand Prize for Innovation and a special recognition mention for the Best Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) projects.

The Mobile TV Screenings & Awards are a part of the Mobile TV focus on 11 October 2006. Included in the programme are a number of conferences focusing on the distribution, marketing and creation of audiovisual mobile content; including keynote addresses by Orange CEO Sanjiv Ahuja and ESPN president, and ABC Sports co-Chairman George Bodenheimer.

The nominees in various categories are: