Despite the unplanned LA rain soaking the red carpet, this weekend’s Golden Globe awards was a glittering star-studded affair. A-listers like Cameron Diaz and Helen Mirren were in attendance to witness a ceremony presided over in trademark sarcastic style by Brit comedian Ricky Gervais; a ceremony that had its fair share of surprises of surprises when it came to handing out those golden trophies.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the night was that Kathryn Bigelow’s war drama The Hurt Locker, a runaway favourite and winner of several other prestigious awards, didn’t win either of the Globes it was nominated for. It lost out in the Best Drama category to James Cameron’s Avatar, with Cameron also nabbing the Best Director award. It may not seem that surprising, given the fact that Avatar is well on its way to overtaking Cameron’s earlier behemoth Titanic as the biggest film of all time, but the fact that the industry has awarded such a populist film in two major categories is certainly unusual.

Two further surprises were to be found in the handing out of awards for Best Actress (Drama) and Best Actor (Drama). After a career spanning over 20 years, and two previous Golden Globe nominations, Sandra Bullock won her first major award for her role in real-life American football drama The Blind Side. (Bullock was also nominated this year in the Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) category for romcom The Proposal). And Jeff Bridges looked as shocked as anyone to be taking home a Globe for his role as a country singer in Crazy Heart, beating out the critics favourite George Clooney (Up in the Air) in the process.

Elsewhere, Meryl Streep took home a record-breaking seventh Golden Globe, winning Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) for Julie & Julia, while Robert Downey Jr was named as Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.

The movie winners in full:

Cecil B DeMill Award Martin Scorsese
Best Picture – Drama Avatar
Best Performance by an Actress – Drama Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Best Performance by an Actor – Drama Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Best Picture – Comedy or Musical The Hangover
Best Performance by an Actress – Comedy or Musical Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Best Performance by an Actor – Comedy or Musical Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Mo’nique (Precious)
Best Performance by An Actor in a Supporting Role Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Animated Film Up
Best Foreign Language Film The White Ribbon
Best Director James Cameron (Avatar)
Best Screenplay Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)
Best Original Score Up (Michael Giacchino)
Best Original Song: The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart (Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett)

For a full list of nominees, plus photos and videos from the ceremony visit the Official Golden Globes Website