MUMBAI: Promax/BDA the global non-profit organization for marketing, promotion and design professionals in electronic media, celebrated its annual Promax World Gold and North America Awards.

Hosted by Saturday Night Live's Darrell Hammond, the awards ceremony brought the 2006 Promax/BDA Conference to a close. The awards competition is divided into North America and World Gold based on the entrants main region of business.

The big winners in the Promax World Gold Awards were design house Red Bee Media, with 15 gold and six silver Muse Awards and Italian broadcaster Fox International, who took home 13 gold and eight silver Muse Awards. BSkyB was also among the big winners in the World Gold competition with 11 gold and three silver Muse Awards, informs an official release.

In the North America Awards competition, NBC led the charge with 16 gold and nine silver Muse Awards. ABC and Bell ExpressVu followed with 18 awards each - ABC had 13 gold and five silver, while Bell ExpressVu earned 12 gold and six silver. HBO was not far behind with eight gold and nine silver awards.

In addition to the newly redesigned Promax Muse statuette, award recipients will have their winning entries added to the permanent collection of Promax/BDA media at the United States Library of Congress, as part of The Robert Neer Promax/BDA Promos.tv Collection, containing over 6,900 winning promotional spots from Promax/BDA competitions worldwide since 1999, adds the release.

Commenting on the event, Promax/BDA president and CEO Jim Chabin said, "The worldwide prestige and value of the Promax World Gold and Promax North America Muse Awards are exemplified by the caliber of work and the talented individuals that create that work. This year, we received an unprecedented number of submissions from companies around the globe so our winners should take pride in knowing they are truly the world's best."