THERE were no big winners at the MTV Video Music Awards - Missy Elliott's "Work It" won two awards, including video of the year, while Justin Timberlake, Coldplay and Beyonce had three apiece.

The 71-year-old Johnny Cash, nominated seven times for "Hurt", won once.

The evening had a potential to be poignant. Cash's haunting "Hurt" threatened to upstage all the craziness at the Radio City Music Hall extravaganza, but The Man in Black's hopes to attend were dashed when he was hospitalized with a stomach ailment.

Cash's video, nominated for video of the year, best male video and best direction, among others, was hardly a staple on MTV over the past year. His cover of the Nine Inch Nails song wasn't played very much, and most die-hard MTV watchers may not recall even seeing it. But it resonated with those who vote on the nominations, including music executives, video directors and journalists. It won for best cinematography.

More people were familiar with Missy Elliott's "Work It", the most-nominated video, which had eight nods. The music clip was loaded with special effects, dancing and surreal images. It won the evening's first award, for best hip-hop video, which Elliott picked up after participating in the Madonna tribute.

Beyonce's sexy video "Crazy in Love", featuring her boyfriend Jay-Z, won three awards. She gave a showstopping, hip-shaking performance with dozens of dancers, garnering a standing ovation from the crowd.

Nominated for seven awards was Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" video, which takes a not-so-subtle dig at ex-girlfriend Spears; the video features Timberlake exacting revenge on a cheating Spears look-alike.

Timberlake won best pop video for "Cry Me a River", and best male video, beating out Cash.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Lifestyle News
+Premier: Stable RMB rate benefits all ( 2003-09-04) +Typhoon kills at least 36 in Guangdong ( 2003-09-04) +Ministry: No SARS recurrence in China ( 2003-09-04) +Free-trade initiative gathers momentum ( 2003-09-04) +Several nuclear-power plants to quench energy thirst ( 2003-09-04)		+Multiple winners share MTV awards ( 2003-09-04) +Housing safeguard document due out ( 2003-09-04) +Dialect song contest brings together people across Taiwan Straits ( 2003-09-04) +East meets west -- a chat with Kundera ( 2003-09-04) +Free newspapers have finally arrived in Shanghai. ( 2003-09-04)