Markus Lanz (52), Andrea Kiewel (56) and Joko Winterscheidt (42) received the television award - and the returned Hape Kerkeling (56) received a whole revue.

German television in Cologne honored its outstanding protagonists of the past year with a large gala.

The German TV Prize celebrated its comeback as a TV show on Thursday evening - and many celebrities saw a reunion on the red carpet after a long Corona break.

Markus Lanz won the “Best Information” category with his ZDF talk show named after him, which was remarkable.

There he competed against the two classic political magazines “Frontal” (ZDF) and “Panorama” (ARD / NDR).

The 52-year-old said that it was actually very simple: in his program, he often had to deal with people who had the right answer to every question.

"Our job is basically to find the right question for every answer." The talker got emotional at the end of his acceptance speech.

"I know that there is now an elderly lady in the South Tyrolean Bergern at 87, who did not have it easy in life and to whom I owe a great deal," said Lanz.

"Mom: This is for you."

Everyday life of a caregiver in real time

Joko Winterscheidt could also consider himself one of the big winners of the evening. He not only triumphed with his quiz show “Who steals the show from me?” (ProSieben) in the entertainment shows category, but also won an award with his partner Klaas Heufer-Umlauf for “Joko & Klaas - Live: Care is # Not Self-evident” (ProSieben). At the end of March, the two moderators had their station show the everyday life of a nurse over several hours in real time.

Since the two moderators did not attend the gala, they had two nurses involved accept the award on their behalf.

Nurse Alexander Jorde persuaded the guests not to forget nurses: "Good nursing and a good health system are one thing above all else: they can't be taken for granted." There was a lot of applause for this.

Andrea Kiewel received the award as the best individual moderator in entertainment for the “ZDF TV Garden”.

In the information category, Anja Reschke won for “Panorama” (ARD / NDR).

Best actress was Petra Schmidt-Schaller, best actor Sascha Alexander Geršak.

Both were featured in the multi-part series “Die Toten von Marnow” (ARD).

In Geršak's case, his performance in “Polizeiruf 110: The Condemned” (ARD) was also included in the decision.

Best drama series was “Para - Wir sind King” (TNT), best multi-part series “Oktoberfest 1900” (ARD). Before the award ceremony, both productions were considered favorites of the evening due to their large number of nominations. However, not every nomination became a prize. There was a little surprise at the comedy and late night shows. In the end, there was “Friday Night Jews” (WDR) with Daniel Donskoy in front - and left the established satirical forces Carolin Kebekus (“The Carolin Kebekus Show”, ARD) and Jan Böhmermann (“ZDF Magazin Royale”, ZDF) behind.

The German Television Prize has been awarded for outstanding television performance since 1999.

It is donated by RTL, ZDF, Sat.1, ARD and Deutsche Telekom.

This year RTL was in charge of the project.

The broadcaster staged the award ceremony as a large open-air gala at the Tanzbrunnen in Cologne, an area on the Rhine with a view of the cathedral.

In contrast to issues from previous years, there was also a broadcast during prime time on television.

Moderator Barbara Schöneberger announced: "The television award in prime time is the biggest comeback after Abba and Olaf Scholz."

Honorary award for Hape Kerkeling

For many guests on the red carpet, it was also the first reunion since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. "I'm happy that it's finally time again," said entertainer Hape Kerkeling (56). “That you can get out of the booth and come back to people after 16 months of isolation.” Actress Marie-Luise Marjan, better known as “Mother Beimer” from “Lindenstrasse”, had a guest list handed out to her as a precaution. “I just wanted to look again: Who is all nominated? Who is performing? Who's here? ”She explained. "I don't know all of them now."

Kerkeling received the honorary award for his life's work. The stages of his career were re-enacted in a small review. Even the “funny lucky bunny” from the television satire “No Pardon”, in which Kerkeling played a man who had risen to become a showmaster, was allowed to perform. The remark that he was still very young for a lifetime achievement award amused Kerkeling, who will soon return with new formats after abstaining from TV. The last time he heard that was when he was eleven years old. At that time he was told: “But you are young. You are not allowed to go to the cinema in “Nebel des Horens” ”.

The moderator and author ("I'll be gone") thanked the jury, his fans and the LGBTQ community, who have supported him for many decades. LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer people.