Awards were handed out during Thursday evening’s awards ceremony in the Grimaldi Forum, attended by Festival President Prince Albert II of Monaco, in categories that covered Comedy TV Series, Drama TV Series, Mini-series, TV Audience Awards, Television Films and News and a number of special prizes including the Prince Rainier III Award and International Red Cross Committee Award.

Best Actress in the Drama TV series category went to Esther Ortego for her role in Spanish series ‘Missing’, which also received a European Drama Producer award for Miguel Angel Bernardeau,

Other winners included Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man) who scooped Best Actor in a Mini Series for his role in HBO’s ‘John Adams’, which was also named Best Mini Series.

In the Comedy Series strand, the UK’s Richard Ayoade won Best Actor for his role in ‘The IT Crowd’, while France’s Isabelle Gelinas was named Best Actress for her role in ‘Desperate Parents’, which also picked up the European Comedy Producer award for Guillaume Renouil.

American series ‘Law and Order’ received the festival’s Honorary Golden Nymph.

US series ‘CSI’, ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ all scooped International TV Audience Awards, which are judged on international viewing figures.

Full list of winners:

COMEDY TV SERIES:

Actor
Richard Ayoade, ‘The IT Crowd’ (U.K.)

Actress
Isabelle Gelinas, ‘Desperate Parents’ (France)

European Producer
Guillaume Renouil ‘Desperate Parents’

International Producer
Miguel Angel Bernardeau ‘Remember When’ (Spain)

DRAMA TV SERIES:

Actor
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, ‘The Tudors’ (U.K.)

Actress
Esther Ortega, ‘Missing’ (Spain)

European Producer
Miguel Angel Bernardeau, ‘Missing’ (Spain)

International Producer
Luis Peraza, ‘Capadocia’ (Mexico)

MINISERIES:

Miniseries
’John Adams’ (U.S.)

Actor
Paul Giamatti, ‘John Adams’ (U.S.)

Actress
Katharina Wackernagel, ‘Side Effects’ (Germany)

INTL. TV AUDIENCE AWARDS:

Drama TV Series
’CSI’ (U.S.)

Comedy TV Series
’Desperate Housewives’ (U.S.)

Telenovelas/ Soap Operas
’The Bold and the Beautiful’ (U.S.)

TELEVISION FILMS:

TV Film
’The Mark of Cain’ (Red Production Co., U.K.)

Script
Beate Langmaack (`Good Morning, Mr. Grothe’, Germany)

Direction
`Wait for the Birth of the Husband' (Hua Zheng, China)

Actor
Jean-Pierre Darroussin, ‘Jury Duty’ (France)

Actress
Anna Madeley, ‘Affinity’ (U.K.)

Signis Prize
`Manhunt' (Elzevir Films, France)

Monaco Red Cross Prize
`Manhunt'

NEWS CATEGORY:

News Documentary
’Taxi to the Dark Side’ (ZDF, Germany); ‘The Bath House' (SIC, Portugal)

TV News Item
CBC News: ‘The National: Gaza Rockets' (CBC, Canada)

24-Hour News Program
’Al Jazeera English News Hour, 3 p.m. GMT’ (Qatar)

URTI Author’s Documentary Grand Prix
’Memory Books’ (ZDF, Germany)

Amade World Assocation of Friends of Children Prize
’Trafficked Childhood’ (TVI, Portugal)

Red Cross Prize
`Aftermath -- The Balkans of Predrag Matvejevic’ (RAI, Italy)

Prince Rainier 111 Special Prize
`Climate Change II’ (TVE, Spain)