IT was the night that Hollywood displayed a political conscience.

For once, the Oscars will be remembered as much for the political signals being sent out as the glitter and glamour of the red carpet.

Race, homosexuality, terrorism and the oil business were among the issues raised and rewarded as the gold-plated statues were handed out at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

This was also the year in which studio blockbusters were overshadowed by smaller, independent movies.

Big budget films such as King Kong and Memoirs Of A Geisha had to make do with technical prizes, with the high-profile Oscars going to movies with modest budgets.

Biggest upset saw Crash, a realistic race relations drama set in Los Angeles, snatching the best picture Oscar from hotly-favoured gay cowboy picture Brokeback Mountain.

There were gasps from the audience when the name of Crash was read out.

"None of us expected it," said writer-director Paul Haggis.

"You hope, but we had a tiny picture. This was a year when Hollywood rewarded rule-breakers."

He also won best original screenplay for Crash, having previously taken best adapted screenplay for Million Dollar Baby in 2004.

Producer Cathy Schulman said the movie had a message "about love, about tolerance, about truth".

Brokeback Mountain was rewarded with a best director Oscar for Ang Lee, as well as awards for original score and adapted screenplay. Crash also won a total of three prizes.

George Clooney won his first Oscar as best supporting actor as a veteran CIA agent in the oil business thriller Syriana.

But he lost out in the best director category where he was nominated for Good Night, And Good Luck, about the McCarthy Communist witchhunts.

The man once dubbed the sexiest man alive by a US magazine has become acknowledged as one of Hollywood's most liberal film-makers, credited for leading the current crop of political movies.

There were no surprises in the main acting categories.

As expected, Philip Seymour Hoffman was named best actor for Capote and Reese Witherspoon was best actress as singer June Carter in Walk The Line.

Not only were they playing real people but transformed themselves physically and vocally - always something that pleases Oscar voters.

British hopes were dashed when best actress nominees Judi Dench and Keira Knightley failed to win.

But there was success for Rachel Weisz, named best supporting actress as an aid worker in The Constant Gardener, a political thriller about corruption in the pharmaceutical industry.

She paid tribute to the novel's author John Le Carre. "He wrote this unflinching, angry story and he really paid tribute to the people who are willing to risk their own lives to fight for justice.

"They are greater men and woman than I," she told the audience.

The actress, seven months pregnant with her first child, does not remember much about her name being read out.

"Because I'm pregnant, my brain is a bit like porridge. I was a big blank. It's a very surreal, strange feeling," she said.

Britain's biggest success of the night belonged to Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.

The best animation win for Wallace And Gromit in the Curse Of The Were-Rabbit was his fourth Oscar, after previously winning for his short films.

He and co-director Steve Box took to the stage wearing giant bow ties - and then produced matching miniature versions for their Oscars to wear.

"It was a kind of last minute idea. We were very nervous about it because we know how sacred the Oscars are," said Box.

Another British win came for best live action short film with Six Shooter, a black comedy by London-born film-maker Martin McDonagh.