After just little over a year on The Project, co-host Waleed Aly has managed to overcome industry naysayers to win the coveted Gold Logie at Sunday night’s ceremony.

Aly, who joined the panel of the Network Ten current affairs show in January 2015, beat out fellow nominees Carrie Bickmore, Scott Cam, Grant Denyer, Essie Davis and Lee Lin Chin to score the audience-voted honour.

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In his acceptance speech, Aly joked about the controversy surrounding his nomination.

“Do not adjust your sets,” the first non-white winner of the award said.

“There’s nothing wrong with the picture. If you are in the room I’m sure there’s an Instagram filter to return things to normal. It will be fine. This is happening.”

Aly thanked his “sharper, wittier, funnier and infinitely more charming” wife of 14 years, Susan Carland, and dedicated his win to a person “in the room” who he refused to identify.

“There have been a lot of people in the past week or two who have made it clear to me that me being here right now really matters to them. It matters to them for a particular reason,” he said.

“That reason was brought home not so long ago actually when someone who is in this room, and I’m not going to use the name they use in the industry, came up to me, introduced themselves and said to me, ‘I really hope you win. My name is Mustafa. But I can’t use that name because I won’t get a job’.

“He’s here tonight. And it matters to people like that that I am here.”

‘A heavy and constant cloud of negativity’

Aly and Chin’s nominations were the topic of much discussion after “industry experts” claimed they were undeserving and Today show hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson jokingly attributed their inclusion to their skin colour.

This year’s Hall of Fame inductee Noni Hazlehurst addressed the furore eloquently in her wide-ranging acceptance speech.

“We’re all living under a heavy and constant cloud of negativity,” Hazlehurst said.

“We’re divided against each other and our fellow human beings. We find it hard to trust and we’re fearful for the future.

“The fact that I’m only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing guard.

“As is the suggestion in some quarters that the eligibility of esteemed colleagues Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin going for gold is questionable.”

Given voting for the Gold Logie opened in November 2015 and closed in January 2016, winning was a mammoth feat for Aly, who had less than a year to establish a following.

Nominees are selected by the TV networks. The winners are determined by an online poll conducted by TV Week, apart from a select number of ‘Most Outstanding’ awards that are peer-voted and adjudicated by panels of industry experts.

60 Minutes cops a roasting

Another hot topic of the evening was the recent 60 Minutes debacle, an event which dominated news coverage for the weeks leading up the Logies.

The drama surrounding Channel Nine’s bid to cover a desperate mother’s alleged attempt to kidnap her children from their father in Beirut was an easy target.

In his opening monologue, comedian Dave Hughes took the first swipe at the show.

“I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! did so well Channel Nine decided to do their own version in Beirut,” he joked.

The Project‘s Peter Helliar also made reference to the scandal while giving advice to Breakthrough Star of Tomorrow winner, Ky Baldwin.

“My advice, your first Logies, don’t drink with Stefanovic, don’t dance with Bickmore, and don’t accept a lift home from the 60 Minutes crew,” Helliar quipped.

“Although, you may not have a choice.”

Full list of award winners

Best Reality Program: The Block
Best Actor: Erik Thomson, 800 Words
Best Entertainment Program: Family Feud
Most Outstanding Comedy Program: Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell
Silver Logie for Best Actress: Jessica Marais, Love Child
Best Drama Program: Home & Away
Best New Talent: Adam Dovile, Better Homes & Gardens
Most Outstanding Sports Coverage: KFC T20 Big Bash League
Most Outstanding Supporting Actor: Tim Minchin, The Secret River
Best Presenter: Waleed Aly, The Project
Best Lifestyle Program: The Living Room
Best Factual Program: Gogglebox
Best Supporting Actress: Celia Ireland, Wentworth
Best Sports Program: The NRL Footy Show
Most Outstanding News Coverage: Parramatta Shooting, Seven News
Most Outstanding Entertainment Program: The Gruen Transfer
The Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie: The Secret River
Best News Panel or Current Affairs Program: The Project
Most Outstanding Drama: Glitch
Most Outstanding Actor: Alex Dimitriades, The Principal
Most Outstanding Actress: Deborah Mailman, Redern Now: Promise Me