God Only Knows: Same Sex Marriage took the Playback Best Canadian Award at the June 12 Banff World Television Awards as the jury favorite among 18 projects nominated in the fest’s international categories.

The doc, produced by Joe Media Group for CBC Newsworld, shows the ideological divide between a religious-right lobbyist from Calgary and a gay pastor from Vancouver. The film was selected by a jury consisting of veteran broadcaster Trina McQueen, Temple Street Productions president Patrick Whitley, Toronto Sun TV critic Bill Brioux, and Playback editor Mark Dillon.

The night’s Grand Prize winner was No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, the Martin Scorsese doc about the titular folk rocker. Special jury prizes were awarded to the Finnish doc Y in Vyborg and French current affairs special The Rise and Fall of the Russian Oligarchs. The Queen of Trees, an international copro nature doc, won the $25,000 NHK President’s Prize for best HD program.

The 22 international categories saw two Canadian projects win. An episode of Jane and the Dragon, a copro between Nelvana and New Zealand’s WETA Productions, took best animated program, while the ReGenesis II: Extended Reality Game, produced by Xenophile Media and Shaftesbury Films, won in the interactive category.

A complete list of winners is available at www.banff2006.com