Hollyoaks honored by Stonewall

Are you sitting down? It's been long, long over due, but at last Hollyoaks has finally won an award! The show was a worthy winner at the 2007 Stonewall Awards, having been named Broadcast of the Year, thanks to its sensitive depiction of the gay love affair between teenagers John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) and Craig Dean (Guy Burnet).

The Stonewall Awards, which took place on November 1 at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum before an audience of more than 400 people, praised the show for its "sympathetic and convincing handling" of the "gritty and emotional" storyline.

Speaking to the Digital Spy website, Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood said: "I'm really chuffed that Hollyoaks has been recognized at the Stonewall Awards. It's a really prestigious award and one that means a lot the show, to James and Guy, to our writers and most importantly the audience that engaged with the story."

James Sutton was both thrilled and humbled by the award, adding: "Stonewall is such an important organization and it's amazing that we've been recognized by them for all the hard work we put into the storyline."

Elsewhere, Russell T. Davies lost out to lesbian Scottish crime novelist Val McDermid for Writer of the Year and Dan Gillespie Sells, the openly gay lead singer of The Feeling, won the award for Entertainer of the Year.

Other winners included openly gay international rugby referee Nigel Owens for Sports Personality of the Year; and former secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, Antony Grey bagged the award for Hero of the Year. The Stonewall & Barclays Community Group of the Year award went to the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.

Villain of the evening was the Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis, who was crowned Bigot of the Year, after an employment tribunal found the Bishop unlawfully withdrew a job offer to a gay youth worker after subjecting him to humiliating personal questioning.