ITV1 has walked away with the Best Entertainment Channel of the Year gong at the Freesat Awards 2011, beating competition from the BBC, Five and Channel 4 for its shows such as X-Factor, Downton Abbey and Penn and Teller: Fool Us.

News station Al Jazeera English also dominated two categories; News Channel of the Year and News Events Coverage of the Year for its "Arab Awakening" feature.

The awards were chosen by a mighty panel of experts from the broadcast industry, including Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat itself, and were supported by tech specialist companies Arqiva, DTG Testing, Echostar, Humax, Sagemcom and Samsung. And hosting the proceedings in London yesterday evening was comedian Russell Kane.

Other winners on the night include CBBC, E4 (for Misfits), Absolute Radio, QVC and Vintage TV, who were all chosen in their respective categories as the "very best in channels and services available on the subscription-free satellite TV service".

Here's the full list of winners:

Best Entertainment Channel of the Year: ITV1

News Channel of the Year: Al Jazeera English

News Events Coverage of the Year: Al Jazeera English for ‘Arab Awakening’

Best Digital Radio Channel: Absolute Radio

Best Children’s Channel: CBBC

Best Specialist Music Channel: Flava

Best Shopping Channel: QVC

Best Children’s Programming Initiative: CBBC for ‘Live’n’Deadly

Audience Impact Award: E4 for Misfits

Best Themed Channel: Vintage TV

Best Small Entertainment Channel of the Year: CBS Reality

Freesat Viewers’ Choice TV Channel of the Year: Create and Craft

Freesat Viewers’ Choice Radio Channel of the Year: Planet Rock

What do you think? Do any of these tick your boxes? Or should others have won? Let us know in the comments below...