Actress Kerry Washington and Independence Day director Roland Emmerich were among the stars honored by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) at its Media Awards on Saturday (21Mar15).

The 26th annual prize-giving ceremony was held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, and Ellen DeGeneres presented Washington with the Vanguard Award for supporting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community.

Emmerich, whose upcoming drama Stonewall focuses on the the riots by New York's gay community in 1969, picked up the Stephen F. Kolzak Award from Channing Tatum.

How to Get Away With Murder was named outstanding drama series, The Imitation Game took home the outstanding film prize, while Amazon's comedy Transparent was the big winner in the television comedy category, taking the outstanding comedy series honor.

Other winners included The Normal Heart, which was named outstanding TV series, Days of Our Lives, which won outstanding daily drama, and punk band Against Me!, who were crowned outstanding music artists.