On May 24th multicultural Britain will come alive when the curtain rises on the NatWest EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Achievement) Awards 2004. This year's finalists include: Norah Jones, David Beckham, Ken Watanabe, Parminder Nagra, Lemar, Greg Dyke, Tony Benn, Thierry Henry, Tom Cruise; Monica Ali for 'Brick Lane' and Mel Gibson for 'The Passion of the Christ'. The awards ceremony will be hosted by BBC journalist Rageh Omar.

There are nineteen categories and the shortlist of finalists were selected by a panel of judges chaired by Human Rights solicitor Imran Khan. South Asians are under represented in many sections this year, but dominate the Best TV Entertainment Production, Best TV Actress and Best TV News Journalist categories. Rishi Rich is shortlisted in the Best British Music Act category and ER-actress Parminder Nagra is nominated in the Best TV Actress and Best TV Entertainment Production categories for last year's Channel 4 drama 'Second Generation' Members of the public can vote for their winners via the EMMA website.

Two prestigious honorary EMMA Awards are given in recognition of the outstanding achievements of world-renowned cultural individuals. Past recipients of honorary awards include: Muhammed Ali, Nelson Mandela, Lord Attenborough, Ray Charles, Dr Maya Angelou, and Stevie Wonder. Previous Legend Awards have honoured Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther King's legacies of peace and harmony. This year's Legend Honour will pay tribute to the legacy of Bruce Lee and his martial arts philosophy that has inspired filmmakers for decades.

Guests attending this year's Awards Ceremony include the Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer who will present Sir Bill Morris with the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rt. Hon Michael Howard MP, Rt. Hon Charles Kennedy MP.

EMMA AWARDS 2004 SHORTLIST

BEST BRITISH MUSIC ACT/PRODUCTION

Big Brovaz
Jamelia
Joss Stone
Lemar
Rishi Rich Project

BEST INTERNATIONAL MUSIC ACT/PRODUCTION

Beyonce
Black Eyed Peas
Missy Elliott
Norah Jones
Outkast

BEST WORLD MUSIC ACT/PRODUCTION

Abyssinia Infinite
Daude
Natacha Atlas
Outlandish
Sound Massi

BEST FILM PRODUCTION

House Of Sand And Fog
Lost In Translation
The Last Samurai
Whale Rider
The Passion of the Christ

BEST FILM ACTOR

Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Frog)
Bill Murray (Lost in Translation)
Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai)
Tom Cruise (The Last Samurai)
James Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ)

BEST FILM ACTRESS

Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider)
Lucy Lui (Kill Bill)
Queen Latifah (Bringing Down The House)
Salma Hayek (Once Upon a Time in Mexico)
Maia Morgenstern (The Passion of The Christ)

BEST TV ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION

Canterbury Tales - The Sea Captain's Tale
Casualty
Kumars At Number 42
Second Generation
Teachers

BEST TV ACTOR

Gary Beadle (Eastenders)
Art Malik (Holby City)
Adrian Lester (Hustle)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Canterbury Tales - The Knight's Tale)
Kwame Kwei Armah (Casualty)

BEST TV ACTRESS

Ellen Thomas (Teachers)
Indira Varma (Canterbury Tales)
Julia Sawalha (Jonathan Creek)
Nina Wadia (All About Me)
Parmindar Nagra (Second Generation)

BEST PLAY/THEATRE PRODUCTION

Elmina's Kitchen
Hobsons Choice
Henry V
Mother Courage and Her Child
Othello

BEST BOOK/NOVEL

Bookseller Of Kabul
Brick Lane
House In Morocco
London Calling - How Black & Asian Writers Imagined a City
Rainbow World

BEST COMEDY/COMEDIAN

Three Non Blondes
Inder Manocha
Lenny Henry
Meera Syal
Russell Peters

BEST PRINT JOURNALISM

Graham Brough
Hsiao-Hung Pai
Rebecca Taylor
Ruki Sayid
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

BEST RADIO NEWS JOURNALIST

Charmaine Noble-Mclean
Jacqueline Springer
Sonia Deol
Eddie Nestor
Vanessa Feltz

BEST TV NEWS JOURNALIST

Clive Myrie
Krishnan Guru Murthy
Lisa Aziz
Navdip Dhariwal
Nina Nanar

BEST TV DOCUMENTARY

Black Flash
Message In A Bottle
The Secret Policeman
India's Ladyboys
When Black Became Beautiful

PUBLIC FIGURE FOR THE YEAR

Lord Dholakia
Trevor Phillips
Bob Geldof
Tony Benn
Jocelyn & Sophie Hurndall

MEDIA PERSONALITY FOR THE YEAR

Andi Peters
Greg Dyke
Spike Lee
Tim Westwood
Piers Morgan

SPORTING PERSONALITY FOR THE YEAR

Andrew Flower & Henry Olonga
David Beckham
Jason Robinson
Michael Watson
Thierry Henry

LEGEND AWARD

Bruce Lee

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Sir Bill Morris

The EMMA Awards ceremony will be broadcast on Sunday 30 May on BBC2 at 10.45pm

Click here to visit the EMMA website (registration is required to vote).