Peter Jackson won top honours at the 56th Annual DGA Awards in Los Angeles at the weekend for The Lord Of TheRings: The Return Of The King.

The honour is widelyregarded as a strong barometer of Academy Award success in the best directorcategory, for which Jackson is nominated. Forty-nine of the past 55 Directors Guild of America winnershave gone on to claim the Oscar.

Jackson, who won the bestdirector Golden Globe two weeks ago, beat the challenge of Sofia Coppola (LostIn Translation), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River), Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) andPeter Weir (Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World).

The DGA documentary awardwent to Nathaniel Kahn for My Architect, in which he traces the footsteps ofthe father he barely knew, the celebrated architect Louis Kahn.