Top Gear wins lifetime achievement award

Top Gear has won a top international TV award with show star Jeremy Clarkson collecting the gong last night in Switzerland.

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The show has won the Honorary Rose Award at the Rose D’Or Festival for lifetime achievement.

Jeremy Clarkson announced the news live from the Switzerland event last night via Twitter.

“Amazing news,” he wrote. “Top Gear just won the big lifetime achievement award at the Rose D’Or.”

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The Rose D’Or Festival has been running for the past half-century and is described as one of the most significant events for the entertainment television industry.

The best entertainment programmes from around the world were submitted to the competition, with an international jury drawing up a shortlist and then deciding the awards winners for the Rose D’Or Awards Ceremony.

Said to reward originality, quality and creativity, Top Gear scooping one of the most prestigious Rose D’Or Awards of all is a real mark of the show’s immense success.

Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May in the current format since 2002, it is Top Gear’s track record of international success that helped it win the big prize.

The awards success comes as news emerges that the next series of Top Gear has been delayed until 2013. This is to ensure it does not clash with the next series of X Factor.