The newly established Heart of Sarajevo Awards for Best TV Series from the region of the former Yugoslavia were announced last night at the ceremony in Sarajevo's Hotel Holiday, as part of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.

The Serbian show The Family, which details the last days of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević before his fall in October 2000, picked up Best Drama Series, Best Creator for Bojan Vuletić and Best Actor for Boris Isaković, who portrays Milošević in the show.

The Croatian period show The Diary of the Great Perica, set in 1964 against a backdrop of influx of Western politics and pop culture in Zagreb, won Best Comedy Series. It was created and written by Albino Uršić and directed by Vinko Brešan.

The Serbian crime show The Group, set in the seedy Belgrade underground among drug dealers and corrupt cops, but also teenagers and their parents, created by Uroš Tomić and Dragan Djurković, picked up Best Actress for Jasna Djuričić and Rising Star for Ivana Zečević.

The awards were voted on by a jury of 400 film and TV professionals from the region, and 16 shows were nominated. In addition to the winners, these are: The Lake, South Wind, Mould, The Clan, Bones, The Swamp, The Paper (Season 3), The Markovski Family, Shadows over Balkans, Tycoon, Black & White World (Season 4), Mom and Dad are Playing War and Golden Days.

The online voting was based on similar annual awards of film and television academies, such as the Emmys. This year's jury is the nucleus of a professional academy for the region of the former Yugoslavia which is expected to take shape in the coming year.