Singapore – The finalists for this year’s Asian Television Awards 2011 (ATA) were announced today by organizing publication Television Asia Plus. A total of 224 entries spanning 13 countries have been short-listed for the 16th annual presentation of the region’s industry honours. This year’s entries surpassed those in 2010, with close to 1,040 submissions received across various television genres and performance categories. The awards also garnered first time entries from numerous broadcasters in the region. Over the past two months 46 specialist judges from 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific have viewed the entries with final results being audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. This year, three new award categories were introduced, namely: Best Preschool Education Programme; Best Theme Song and Best Drama Screenplay. In addition, the two documentary categories have been renamed as Best Documentary Feature (one-off) and Best Documentary Series. The 39 award winners will be announced during the exclusive gala dinner on December 8, held at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel. To view the full list of nominees, go to http://ata.onscreenasia.com/ata2011/nomination-list.asp.