Los Angeles, Nov 1 (IANS): British actresses Emma Watson and Dame Judi Dench were two of the six honourees at the annual Britannia Awards.

The annual ceremony was hosted by BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills here Thursday evening.

Dench was given the Albert “Cubby” Broccoli Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, a gong named after the legendary "James Bond" movie producer, while United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador and former "Harry Potter" star Watson was awarded the British Artist of the Year prize, reports contactmusic.com.

Presented with her award by Dustin Hoffman, she said: "I'm rather overwhelmed by (the award), because I didn't ever expect to have a film career at all.”

Dench, known for playing the British spy’s boss M in all of the movies since 1995’s “GoldenEye”, has also been the high profile star of a lot of successful films in the recent past, including "Philomena" and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

Meanwhile, Watson used the opportunity to pay tribute to Dench, saying: "She's just all soul and all grace and strength and beauty, and for me, she's an iconic British actor. She's what you aspire to be.”

Other winners of the night included Robert Downey Jr. for the Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film, director Mike Leigh, comedienne Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mark Ruffalo for his humanitarian work.

The event started in 1989 as a bridge-building exercise between Hollywood and the British film industry.