NEW DELHI: The 18th Asian Television Awards (ATA) to be held in Singapore later this year has invited entries by 14 June for awards in almost 45 categories.

Celebrating excellence in programming, performance and production, ATA seeks to applaud the many master "magicians" who put in their heart and soul to create television "magic". The finalists and winners will be decided by a distinguished panel of judges comprising of industry experts, and the results will be tabulated and audited by international auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

To be eligible for entry, all programmes must be broadcast or cablecast for the first time in the Asia Pacific region during the period from 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2013.

The programming awards including 25 categories, while there are nine performance categories, and there are nine awards in technical and creative categories.