Mumbai: At a glittering ceremony held at the Taj Land's End here the Emvie for Media Agency of the Year was conferred on WPP Media.

The Emvies were introduced by the Advertising Club Bombay last year to honour measurable and significant contributions in the field of media.

Andre Nair, chief executive officer (South Asia), Mindshare, a unit of WPP Marketing Communications India, received the gold prize. The event was sponsored by Vijay Karnataka, the largest-selling Kannada newspaper in Karnataka.

Those who presented the awards included Bollywood star Manisha Koirala and MTV India managing director Alex Kuruvilla. The event was enlivened with dance and other entertainment programmes.

WPP Media also bagged the Best Media Innovation (Print) award for the 'Pepsi A-ha Intrusion' and 'Kodak Moments' campaigns (both silver). The Malayala Manorama group was adjudged the Best Media Marketer of Year in 2002. The group won the gold award in this category.

The Best Media Innovation (Outdoor) awards went to Euro RSCG's 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' campaign on MAX (gold) and Euro RSCG' campaign 'World AIDS Day' (silver). And the Best Media Research awards (all silver) went to Mediacom India's 'Horlicks', Madison Communications' 'Town and Country' and WPP Media's 'Viewmatrix' campaigns.

The Best Media Strategy awards (again, all silver) went to Zenith Media's 'LML Freedom', WPP Media's 'Lifebuoy re-launch' and Lodestar Media's 'Zod! Clubwear' campaigns.

The winners were heartily cheered by the enthusiastic audience.