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Guardian undercover documentary wins Broadcast award

Guardian Films last night won the award for best news programme at the 2009 Broadcast Awards.

Zimbabwe: The Stolen Ballots was an undercover video investigation into vote-rigging by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party during last year’s election.

It showed a Mugabe supporter getting prison officers to fill in their postal ballots in his presence.

The film was shot in the central jail in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare by prison officer Shepherd Yuda before – who then smuggled the footage out of the country.

The winning submission was originally posted on the Guardian website in July last year. It was also broadcast on BBC2’s Newsnight.

Guardian Films editorial director Maggie O’Kane said: “This film wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for one man’s absolute determination to expose Mugabe’s vote-rigging.

“The person who did that, Shepherd Yuda, was prepared to take great personal risks to do it and we are very honoured at the Guardian to have been able to work with such a brave man.”

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The award for best documentary was won by Channel 4’s My Street. The programme, produced by TV indie Wellpark Productions, looked at the lives and stories of the people living in the same street as director Sue Bourne.

Best documentary series went to The Genius of Charles Darwin. The IWC Media three-part series featured Richard Dawkins and was also broadcast on Channel 4.

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