Harry Potter leads children's Bafta nominations

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Harry Potter will do battle with an upper-class sewer rat, dancing penguins and the dreaded Dark Master in this year's children's Baftas.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" received three nominations on Monday in the junior version of the annual film and television awards.

The fifth film based on J.K. Rowling's novels is in the running for three prizes: best film, video game and the Bafta Kids' Vote, the only award chosen by the public.

In the film category, the boy wizard is up against the animated rodents of "Flushed Away"; "Happy Feet," about a tap-dancing penguin called Mumble and "Bridge to Terabithia," a fantasy adventure featuring a baddie called the Dark Master.

The BBC's long-running series "Byker Grove" was nominated for best drama prize at the British Academy Children's Awards.

The show, set in a Newcastle youth club, ran between 1989 and 2006 and helped launched the careers of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

The best children's TV channel nominees are CBeebies, Nickelodeon UK, Nick Jr UK and Scamp.

The winners will be announced at a central London ceremony hosted by Keith Chegwin on November 25.

A complete list of nominees is online at www.bafta.org/site/page133.html