On Wednesday, April 22nd, Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival announced the winners of the 45th Hugo Television Awards during the Hugo Awards Night at the Chicago Cultural Center. The evening was emceed by LeeAnn Trotter, Entertainment Reporter for NBC5, with awards being presented to talented artists who created internationally acclaimed television commercials and television productions.

A sold-out crowd packed the Claudia Cassidy Theater. During the ceremony, commercial production company Backyard was honored with the Commitment to Excellence Award for its consistently innovative and varied style and its twenty year reputation for producing outstanding commercials. The award was presented to founding partners Roy Skillicorn and Blair Stribley. The Commitment to Excellence Award was also presented to the Illinois Film Office for its dedication in showcasing Illinois to the global production community and its tireless efforts to support Illinois filmmakers. Illinois Film Office Managing Director Betsy Steinberg accepted the Commitment to Excellence Award at the ceremony.

Silver Hugo winners for Television Productions included “The Devil’s Mistress” (Power), “Weeds” (Showtime) and “At the Death House Door” (Kartemquin Films). Among the Silver Hugo Award recipients for television commercials were “Circus” (DDB), “Ozzy” (Leo Burnett), and “The Cure for Cable” (Draftfcb).

Finalists for the television commercial honors were aired on WTTW11’s award-winning program Image Union. Decided by an online public vote, the Audience Choice Award was given to “Football Coaches Recruiting Spot” by the Big Ten Network.

The top commercial and television productions received the Hugo Television Awards Gold Hugo, the highest honor in the competition. Leo Burnett was bestowed the Gold Hugo for Best Commercial for its McDonalds spot “Kung Food”. In the television productions competition, “Heroes” took home the Gold Hugo for Best Television Series.

"It is an honor to recognize fabulous television contributors like Backyard and the Illinois Film Office along with all the innovative television commercials and productions of this year’s competition," said Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director of Cinema/Chicago. "The night was a true collection of the best talent in television."

The evening was made possible with the support of event sponsors: Flashpoint Academy, American Airlines, Optimus, WTTW, Cutters, Comma, Resolution Digital Studios, Draftfcb, DDB and Particle.

A full list of winners of winners and event highlights will be available on April 27th at www.chicagofilmfestival.com