While the best of the breeds strutted around the ring at the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, across the country in Los Angeles, a different group of dogs were being recognized. The inaugural Golden Collar Awards honored this year’s best canine thespians for their work on the big and small screen. The webcast of the Dog News Daily awards show was streamed live on Monday by The Hollywood Reporter.  

It should come as no surprise that Uggie won for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film for his performance in The Artist. After all, the awards show was put together immediately after he was snubbed for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination says The Wrap reporter Steve Pond, who was one of the judges.

Uggie beat out Blackie from Hugo (who was a late addition to the ballot), Cosmo from Beginners, Skeletor from 50/50, Hummer, who plays Dolce in Young Adult — and himself (Uggie was also nominated for his role in Water for Elephants).  

Several human celebrities presented awards at the event, including NCIS’s Pauley Perrette and James Cromwell, who appeared with Uggie in The Artist, but is perhaps better known to animal-loving filmgoers as the farmer Arthur Hoggette in Babe. Missing from the Golden Collar Awards was Charlize Theron, who was nominated for the Humanitarian Award.

Martin Scorsese sent a special video to the show thanking Dog News Daily for Blackie’s late inclusion as a nominee, but said he “remains shocked” that anyone would think that Blackie’s performance was in any way augmented with CGI or special effects.

While it was clear from the lack of awards envelopes on the podium and a few off-script moments that Dog News Daily is new to the awards show arena, we hope that next year’s awards are bigger, better and on TV.

Other Golden Collar Award Winners:

Best Dog in a Foreign Film: Koko as Red Dog in Red Dog
Best Dog in a Television Series: Brigitte as Stella in Modern Family
Best Dog in a Reality Television Series: (tie) Hercules in Pit Boss and Giggy in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Best Dog in a Direct-to-DVD Film: Rody as Marley in Marley & Me: The Puppy Years