(4 November 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The annual Kerala State Television Awards have been announced. Malayalam general entertainment channel Asianet won many of the top honours, including those for best soap, best telefilm and best director.

Avicharitham, produced and telecast by Asianet Television has bagged five awards, including best tele-serial, director, actor, actress and screen play writer, in the story section of the awards.

Prem Prakash and Sreevidya have been chosen as the best tele-serial actor and actress respectively for their roles in Avicharitham and its director Harikumar bagged the best director award. The actors would get a purse of Rs 9,000, a citation and a plaque each, while the director would be richer by Rs 12,000, besides a citation and a plaque.

Kaalam Chathicha Bihagum and Malharum produced by Asianet and directed by Vinod Mankara, was selected as the best documentary in the non-story section.

Bhagath Chandran of Indiavision has annexed the best news reader award, while the best compere and commentator award went in favour of Sangeetha Mohan (Asianet) and Anjana (Indiavision) respectively.

The best investigation journalist award was snatched by Biju Pankaj of Surya Television.

The complete list of winners:

Story section:

1. Best tele-serial : Avicharitham (Asianet TV)

2. Second tele-seiral : Sulthan veedu (Kairali TV)

3. Best Tele-film : Tree of Life (Asianet TV)

4. Second tele-film : Rachiyamma (Doordarsan)

5. Director : K K Rajeev (Avicharitham)

6. Screenplay writer : Boby & Sanjay (Avicharitham)

7. Story writer : P A Muhammad Koya (Sultan veedu)

8. Best actor : Prem Prakash (Avicharitham)\

9. Best actoress : Sreevidya (Avicharitham)

10. Supporting actor : M R Gopakumar

11. Supporting actoress : Zeenath (Sulthan veedu and Ragardram)

: and Sona Nair (Thyagam and Rachiyamma)

12. Child artist : Sisira (Manathekku Parakkan Vaa (Kairali)

13. Videographer : T G Sreekumar (Black and White the Game)

14. Music director : Ramesh Narayanan (Ragardram- Doordarsan)

15. Sound recordist : Mathew Eerali (Prathitna- Doordarsan)

16. Editor : Sreenivasan (Black and white the game)

17. Art director : Makkada Devadas (Sultan Veedu)

Secial Jury Award:

1. Ashok Naduvathil : Thirichariyathe (Kairali)

2. Siddique : Various serials

Non-story section:

1. Best Documentary : Kalam Chaticha Bihagum Malharum

2. Director : Vinod Mankara

3. Best News Reader : Bhagath Chandran (Indiavision)

4. Best Compere : Sangeetha Mohan (Asianet)

5. Best Commentator : Anjana

6. Best Interviewer : Gopikrishnan (Asianet)

7. Best Achor : B R Prasad and Rank Sasikumar (Asianet)

8. Investigative Journist : Biju Pankaj (Surya TV)

9. Contemporary porgrammme : Ariyathe (Kairali)