MUMBAI: The Lycra MTV Style Awards will be held on 14 October at the MMRDA Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai along the theme 'Celebrating Style'.

In keeping with the theme, this year's function will feature an explosion of colour with the year's chosen designers - Neeta Lulla, Ritu Kumar, JJ Valaya, and Rohit Gandhi-Rahul Khanna presenting their lines and creating exclusive designs for the 4th Lycra MTV Style Awards, while each designer will team up with a music performer, to present a unique fusion of fashion, music and style, informs an official release.

Additionally, designer Suneet Verma will create a special line for the opening sequence. This will be interspersed with awards being presented to the most stylish people in India across different walks of life.

Divided into three broad categories - Popular, Technical and Honours, the Lycra MTV Style Awards 2006 will zero in on the most stylish people in fashion, films, sports, television, business, politics and music. The Popular Awards are aimed at recognising the most stylish people in the fields having the broadest popular reach, namely the realms of music, television and films. The Technical Awards, on the other hand will acknowledge the stylish people of the fashion fraternity, including models, designers and fashion photographers. The Honours category is aimed at recognizing and felicitating personalities in business, sports and politics.

Leading up to the final night of the awards is a comprehensive process that has been instituted this year. An exclusive panel of 25 judges comprising style gurus and divas across like Arjun Rampal, Ashok Salian, Manish Malhotra, Malaika Arora Khan, Mehr Jessia, AD Singh, Prahlad Kakkar and Deepika Govind amongst others will finalise the nominees in the three categories - Popular, Technical and Honours.

Shortlisted nominees in the Popular category will then be up on-air as well as www.mtvindia.com where viewers can log in, cast their votes and decide the winners. Alternatively, they could SMS 'Style ____ (option) to 6882 to vote for their favourites. The winners in the Technical and Honors categories will be decided by the panelists, adds the release.

This year the size of the panel has been broadened to 29 members, instead of eight. Further, taking MTV style concept outside Mumbai, this year Lycra MTV Style Awards extends itself to two more cities - Kolkata and Bangalore. In each of these cities, Lycra MTV Style Awards would recognize and felicitate the 'Most Stylish Place' - a place that has a distinct character of its own, a place that has withstood the vagaries of time and last but not least, a place that has been a breeding ground for style and stylish people.

The Lycra MTV Style Awards 2006 will also be promoted through an extensive campaign running across print, outdoor, on-air, mobile and online via mtvindia.com. Media partners on the event include Red FM, MTV Marie Claire.

Commenting on the event, MTV Networks India managing director Amit Jain said, "MTV has today become a preferred platform for marketers who want to meaningfully engage and interact with young Indians. With our finger on the pulse of the Indian youth coupled with our thorough understanding of the client brand and an in-house creative powerhouse, we are uniquely placed to offer comprehensive solutions to client needs. And our association with Lycra for the fourth successive year is a testimony of the successful activation of two popular brands."

Lycra India Managing Director Satish Khurana said, "We are looking forward to partnering with MTV in our fourth consecutive year of celebrating style, energy and movement, a perfect fit for the LYCRA brand."