Keating, Moore To Co-host Inaugural Mtv Asia Awards Event

Polydor's Irish pop heart-throb Ronan Keating and former MTV VJ Mandy Moore will host the inaugural MTV Asia Awards, scheduled to be held Feb. 2, 2002, in Singapore.

Twenty awards will be presented during the ceremony at the 7,000-capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium. Among them are one favorite music artist award each for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and China. Earmarked for India are two awards—one for favorite pop artist and the other for favorite film artist.

The international categories include favorite male artist—for which Boyzone vocalist and successful solo star Keating has been nominated—favorite female artist, favorite pop act, favorite rock act, favorite video, and favorite breakthrough act. Awards will also be presented for favorite film and favorite designer.

The nomination lists have been compiled from votes by key members of the music, film, and fashion industry. MTV viewers across Asia are now voting on the final winners. MTV will also pick a recipient for the inspiration award, which will honor an aspiring individual whom young adults across Asia admire or an organization that has contributed to the betterment of Asian youth and the region as a whole.

The MTV Asia Awards are the first Pan-Asian awards ceremony for both MTV and the region. MTV currently hosts awards presentations in its separate markets, such as the CCTV-MTV Music Honors in China, MTV Penghargaan in Indonesia, and the MTV Mandarin Music Awards in Taiwan.

MTV Asia president Frank Brown says, "We have long had the vision of creating the first pan-regional awards show for the youth audience in Asia. It fits in with our overall strategy to have that blend of local and international that allows us to celebrate the greatest and best all over Asia. The youth of today doesn't only want to know about its own country; it also wants to know what's going on in the other parts of Asia."

Although this inaugural awards ceremony will be held in Singapore, Brown does not rule out holding the event in other parts of Asia in the future. "It just seemed most logical for it to be in Singapore at the moment, because it is a more central location for artists to fly into."

Other confirmed guests for the night include World Wrestling Federation star the Rock as guest host, as well as Cirque du Soleil, which will perform during the ceremony. Dance duo Groove Armada will also be spinning tracks for the after-show party.