Germany’s most important media award returned to its hometown to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Last Thursday night, Hubert Burda welcomed 1,200 select guests from politics, business, society and media circles in Offenburg. On the occasion of BAMBI’s 60th anniversary, 60 former award winners attended the gala ceremony—among them Boris Becker, Franziska von Almsick, Sasha, Henry Maske, Kurt Felix, Franz Beckenbauer and Mireille Mathieu.

This year’s BAMBI was awarded in 18 categories. The international awards went to Britney Spears, Meg Ryan and Keanu Reeves. Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton was honored with the Special Jury Award. Michael Bully Herbig and Johanna Wokalek received the National Acting Awards. And RTL anchorman Peter Kloeppel was named “News Person of the Year” by the audience.

Matthias Steiner, the new Olympic champion in weightlifting, was the night’s first award winner to receive standing ovations. Franziska van Almsick presented the outstanding athlete with the golden deer and recalled the touching moment in Beijing when Steiner had dedicated his medal to his late wife. Everybody was moved, including host Hubert Burda.

Another highly emotional moment came when representatives of the children’s hospice Bärenherz in Wiesbaden accepted the Commitment BAMBI. Guests demonstrated their respect for the four award winners with standing ovations. Film star Diane Kruger handed the Fashion BAMBI to designer Tommy Hilfiger. Other award winner included children’s book author Cornelia Funke, star tenor Placido Domingo and TV personality Frank Plasberg.

Actor Til Schweiger and his colleague Nora Tschirner shared the honor for their big-screen hit ”Keinohrhasen” (“No-Ears-Rabbit”) with a BAMBI presented by fellow actress Iris Berben. Christine Neubauer, who received the TV Actress Award, beamed with joy and admitted that for her, winning a BAMBI was a childhood dream come true. And a rare pair took the stage when Harald Schmidt presented Stefan Raab with the Entertainment BAMBI.

Schmidt presented the gala event for the third time, once again entertaining the audience with numerous witty jokes. Glamorous entertainment was provided by Britney Spears with her current hit “Womanizer” and Pink with “Sober”. Leona Lewis did not only perform her hit “Bleeding Love”, but also received a golden deer as the “Shooting Star of the Year”.

As always, the last BAMBI to change hands was the Lifetime Award which Claudia Cardinale presented to 80-year old actor and documentary filmer Hardy Krüger. In her speech, she recalled a time when they were shooting together in Moscow and Krüger made an impromptu appearance as Tarzan swinging on the hotel’s chandelier.