BANFF — The U.K. and the U.S. were the big winners Monday night at the Banff World Television Awards, which closed the first full day of the mountainside conference, hosted by Entertainment Tonight Canada personality Rosey Edeh.

The Brits took home seven of the 27 prizes, including best MOW, which went to the ever-controversial Death of a President, best comedy and best animation, which went to the BBC’s The Vicar of Dibley and The Wrong Trainers, respectively.

Spike Lee, meanwhile, took the grand prize for his post-Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, hailed by organizers as ‘a genuinely seminal work that will leave a creative and political legacy for years to come.’ Levees, which was produced with HBO, also won best social and political documentary.

The pilot for NBC’s cancelled Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip won best continuing series, while PBS’s Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie: China scored best lifestyle.

Canadian winners were scarce, though Gilbert Rozon and his Just For Laughs franchise were jointly presented with the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award, while Jonestown: Paradise Lost, a History Channel documentary about the final days of the infamous cult, won the Playback Best Canadian Program Award.

The four-person jury, which included this reporter, commended the Jonestown producers at Cineflix for ‘retelling an already well-known story with powerful interviews and brilliant re-enactments.’

The National Film Board and marblemedia also shared a win for best interactive mobile show for Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction.

Earlier that day, festival organizers also presented a surprise award to David Suzuki during the Alberta Film Annual Awards Lunch — handing the first David Suzuki Science and Environmental Award to the CBC regular. The prize was presented by actress Daryl Hannah, who later that afternoon sat on a panel with Suzuki and others to discuss environmental issues in the media.