MUMBAI: The nominees for the inaugural International Interactive Emmy Awards at MIPTV are announced. Jonathan F. Miller, AOL's chairman and CEO, will receive the Pioneer Prize. The event set for 5 April in Cannes will have Desperate Housewives star Roger Bart as the host.

Said Miller on being recognized by the International Academy, "I am honoured to be the first recipient of the Pioneer Prize for our online entertainment efforts and I am delighted to accept the Pioneer Prize on behalf of the many extraordinary people at AOL. As our coverage of Live 8 showed, the Internet is unmatched when it comes to delivering a big event that entertains, engages and mobilizes a global audience."

The Awards will be presented in three categories: Interactive Program, Interactive Channel and Interactive TV Service.

The nominees for Interactive Program are BBC News's 2005 election coverage, the BBC's How to Sleep Better, France 5's Cult Streampower and Koncern TV & Filmproduktion Denmark's Reallife.log.

In the Interactive Channel category, the nominees are three British services - QuizNation, Scamp and V:MX - up against Germany's Traumpartner TV.

For Interactive TV service, the nominees are South Korea's Hello D; Home Choice, Sky News Active and Sky Vegas Live from the U.K.

The International Academy president and CEO Bruce Paisner said, "We are very pleased to be announcing these nominees who will become the benchmark for a new standard of excellence in interactive television. We look forward to establishing the International Interactive Emmy Awards as the premiere platform for the interactive television community to celebrate their achievements."