Matt Mochary and JeffZimbalist's Oscar shortlisted cultural activism story Favela Rising and Rachel Boynton's expose of Bolivian politicalintrigue Our Brand Is Crisis havebeen awarded joint top honours in the International Documentary Association's(IDA) feature competition.

The filmmakers will collecttheir prize at the 21st Annual IDA Awards Gala Benefit on Dec 9 at the DGATheatre in Los Angeles.

Marshall Curry will collectthe Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award for his featuredebut Street Fight, which followsthe 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark and is also shortlisted for the Oscar.

The 2005 Pare Lorentz Awardwill be presented to director David O'Shields and executive producer DarylSmith for America's Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie, which documents the changes in the Midwesternlandscape over the past 150 years.

Andrzej Celinsky and HannaPolak's account of destitute Russian children The Children of Leningradsky will receive the short category award and Jean-Xavierde Lestrade's murder trial story The Staircase collects the Limited Series trophy for segments of aseries with a specific continuing theme or subject.

CNN Presents has won the Continuing Series competition fordocumentaries that are part of an ongoing series. Sid Bedingfield served asexecutive producer and Judy Gottleib was executive director.

"Each [documentary] tells animportant story that makes an unforgettable impression," IDA executive directorSandra Ruch said. "It is encouraging to see the diversity of high-qualitydocumentaries made by so many talented filmmakers around the world."