It was a night of Outrageous Fortune at the Qantas Film and Television Awards with the hit TV3 show picking up eight gongs.

The cast and crew swept last night's award celebrations at Auckland's Civic Theatre, scoring trophies in all four best acting categories and also picking up the award for best drama.

Robyn Malcolm who plays Cheryl West was again awarded the trophy for best actress, while co-star Antonia Prebble (Loretta West) got the nod for best supporting actress.

Antony Starr (Van and Jethro West) and Tammy Davis (Munter) completed the clean sweep of acting awards, picking up trophies for best actor and best supporting actor respectively.

The show also picked up three other awards for best script, directing and editing in a comedy or drama series.

Davis said Outrageous Fortune's success at the award ceremony had proven the show was one every New Zealander could identify with.

"The show is New Zealand's show, it's not ours any more, it belongs to the public. The public keep watching it and we keep getting the ratings and so we will keep winning the awards, that's how I see it," he said.

Davis said he was "over the moon" he'd won the best supporting actor award especially after missing out on the trophy to his co-star Frank Whitten (Ted West) last year.

"It's awesome to be recognised by my peers and other people in the industry," he said.

"You go to work every day and you think you're doing alright, but you never know."

Davis said while he was proud to have won the award, Maori acting was the real winner on the night after he was named as a finalist alongside co-star Kirk Torrance (Wayne Judd) and former Shortland Street actor Johnny Barker, who played the role of serial killer Joey Henderson.

"I was in a category with Kirk Torrance and Johnny Barker and personally I think that having three Maori as the finalists for best supporting role is a triumph for us Maori people," he said.

"That's something that I think is really positive."

Other big winners last night were the One News team, beating out rivals 3News to claim the top best news award, while Close Up host Mark Sainsbury beat TV3's John Campbell in the best news or current affairs presenter category.

Eating Media Lunch picked up the gong for best comedy programme, while Sensing Murder grabbed an award for best reality series.

Jason Gunn accepted the trophy for best entertainment presenter for his role in Dancing With The Stars, while the show also won another trophy for best contribution to design in general television.

The gripping re-telling of the 1990 Aramoana massacre, Out of the Blue, swept the movie section of the awards, picking up six awards including best picture.

Matthew Sutherland and Karl Urban picked up the awards for best actor and supporting actor for their roles in the popular movie.

But the top film actress awards went to Second-Hand Wedding, with Geraldine Brophy receiving the award for best actress and Holly Shanahan winning best supporting actress.

Out of the Blue also picked up trophies for best screenplay, cinematography and editing, while Oscar-nominated Kiwi director Taika Waititi was named best film director for his movie Eagle vs Shark.

- © Fairfax NZ News