Singapore – Discovery Networks Asia was the big winner at the Asian Television Awards (ATA) 2007, collecting five awards including Cable & Satellite Network of the Year. Singapore’s MediaCorp was declared Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year. Some 31 prizes were handed out at a gala dinner on Nov. 29 at Suntec Singapore, in front of a record turnout of 500 delegates. In its 12th year, ATA 2007 expanded its reach to 16 countries, with first-time participants from Australia and New Zealand, to make it the most competitive year with a record 1,374 entries. Winners were selected by a jury panel of 54 regional media practitioners chaired by Man Shu Sum, Director, Strategic Relations, Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and Director, Singapore Film Commission. Discovery Networks Asia’s Bobby Chinn won the award for Best Entertainment Presenter for World Café: Asia – Hanoi. Its documentary Born Again Buddhist was honored for Best Cinematography and Best Direction, while Five Star Insider – Seven Seas Cruise nabbed Best Editing. In addition, it received two Runner Up and seven Highly Commended mentions. MediaCorp notched four Runner Up and two Highly Commended citations. New Zealand debutant South Pacific Pictures clinched an ATA win as Anthony Starr was feted for Best Drama Performance by an Actor for his role in Outrageous Fortune. Also winning its first ATA trophy, Al Jazeera English took Best Single News Story / Report for its report on Agent Orange victims by Kylie Grey. National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) picked up Best Documentary Programme (31 minutes-plus) for Super Cells, and Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme or Docu-drama for Wild Dog Diaries. MTV Japan’s MTV Jammed: Angela Aki and MTV Unplugged: Tomoyasu Hotei won Best Entertainment Programme and Best Music Programme respectively. The Philippines’ ABS-CBN celebrated artiste Gina Pareno winning Best Drama Performance by an Actress with her role in Remembering, and its Subic Rape Case Promulgation Bandila was named Best News Programme. The gala dinner was headlined by performances by TVB’s artiste Myolie Wu Hang Yee, who won Best Comedy Performance by an Actress for her role in To Grow With Love, as well as Eastern Media Group’s stars Tso Kuang Ping and Grace Cheng Yi Yun. They were joined by more than 40 regional celebrities who presented the awards. ATA 2007 was organized by Television Asia, and is an anchor event of the Asia Media Festival hosted by MDA.