Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director ever to receive the Best Director statue at this year’s Academy Awards, beating ex-husband James Cameron to the award. Bigelow’s film The Hurt Locker also won Best Picture, where it again triumphed over Cameron’s epic Avatar, the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Bigelow, who was only the fifth woman ever to be nominated in the Director category, also saw off Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious) and Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) to take home the award. The Hurt Locker was chosen from a list of ten films – twice as many as previous years – which included the movies of her fellow nominees in the Best Director category, plus British film An Education, Up, District 9, The Blind Side and A Serious Man.

Avatar’s success was limited to the technical awards, winning

Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) picked up the two main acting awards, whilst Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique won for their supporting roles in Inglourious Basterds and Precious respectively.

The Hurt Locker was also selected in the Best Original Screenplay category, whilst Best Adapted Screenplay went to Precious. In Documentary, The Cove beat the likes of Burma VJ and Food Inc., whilst The Secret in Their Eyes was the surprise winner in the Foreign Language category, seeing off favourite The White Ribbon and A Prophet.

Directors UK would like to congratulate all this year’s winners. For a full list, please click here.