Slew of First-Time Winners at International Emmys

NEW YORK: The telenovela My Love scored Portugal its first International Emmy win at last night’s gala event, where Jimmy Fallon and Alec Baldwin presented the Directorate Award to Lorne Michaels and Rupert Murdoch made a surprise appearance to present Simon Cowell with the Founders Award.

After nine nominations, CQC (Eyeworks Cuatro Cabezas) of Argentina finally scored a win, in the category for non-scripted entertainment. Israel won for the first time in the comedy category, with Traffic Light (Kupperman Productions/Keshet Broadcasting). Also with first-time wins were Romania, which took the statuette for arts programming with The World According to Ion B (HBO Romania), and South Korea, which won in the documentary category for Mom and the Red Bean Cake (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation).

It was also a big night for British programming, with The Street winning best drama series. The U.K. swept the performance categories, with Helena Bonham Carter taking the best actress win for her role as Enid Blyton in Enid and Bob Hoskins named best actor for his role as Paddy Gargan in The Street. Another win for the Brits, Shaun the Sheep took top honors in the category for children and young people. The U.K.’s Small Island won for best TV movie/mini-series.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unveiled the winners at a gala event last night at the New York Hilton. The ceremony was hosted by Jason Priestly.