The makers of the family films Bibi Blocksberg and Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer shared top honours at this year's Bavarian Film Awards

Presenting the Euro 250,000 award to producers Uschi Reich, Karl Blatz and Peter Zenk, Bavaria's prime-minister Edmund Stoiber said "the success of both of these productions confirms the welcome development in the production of high-quality children's and family films in Germany."

Bibi Blocksberg was the most successful local film at the German box-office in 2002 with over Euros 9.6m takings and over 2m admissions, and Tomy Wigand's Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer promises to continue the positive trend this year, having only been released by Constantin Film a day before the awards ceremony on January 16.

Other films being recognised in this year's line-up of winners include Andreas Dresen's international success Grill Point, Oskar Roehler's forthcoming Berlin competition film Angst (Der Alte Affe Angst), Zueli Aladag's feature debut Elefantenherz, while the Honorary Award was presented to Roman Polanski for his Golden Palm-winner The Pianist.

The complete list of prize-winners is as follows:

Producers Award - Uschi Reich and Karl Blatz (Bibi Blocksberg), Uschi Reich and Peter Zenk (Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer)
Direction - Andreas Dresen (Grill Point)
Newcomer Direction - Chris Kraus (Scherbentanz)
Actress - Marie Baeumer (Angst/Der Alte Affe Angst)
Actor - Axel Prahl (Grill Point)
Newcomer Actor - Barnaby Metschurat (Anatomie 2 and Solino)
Supporting Actor - Margrit Carstensen (Scherbentanz)
Cinematography - Judith Kaufmann (Elefantenherz)
Screenplay - Ruth Toma (Solino)
Documentary - Douglas Wolfsperger (Bellaria - As Long As We Live!)
VGF Producer Award - Cameo Film- und Fernsehproduktion (Annette Pisacane) for Elefantenherz
Audience Award - Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika) by Caroline Link, voted for by readers of Treffpunkt Kino, listeners to BR3 and viewers of Kino Kino.
Honorary Award - Roman Polanski (The Pianist)