Well if you are using templates you can't echo or print anything but what you can do is something like this.
PHP Code:
$counter = 0;
$result = mysql_query("query");
while ($category = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$columncount = 3;
$counter++;
$categoryname = $category['catname'];
$catid = $category['catid'];
$catdesc = $category['catdesc'];
eval('$cats .= "' . fetch_template('template') . '";');
if ($counter == $columncount)
{
$cats .= '</tr><tr>';
$counter = 0;
}
}