Slumdog Millionaire, praised by its champions as a story of hope over despair, won eight Oscars including one for best picture Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Slumdog Millionaire was named best film of 2008 and took seven prizes overall at the Orange British Academy Film Awards in London Sunday night. The story about an uneducated young man's extraordinary winning streak on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? beat out The Curious Case of

Milk and Slumdog Millionaire won the top honors Saturday night at the 2009 Writers Guild Awards, presented in dual ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York. Milk -- written by Dustin Lance Black -- won the prize for best original screenplay, while Simon Beaufoy won for best adapted screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire, based on the novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup. Slumdog Millionaire has also garnered top prizes at other major award ceremonies leading up to the Feb.

SEAN PENN WINS TWO AWARDS - BEST ACTOR AND BEST ENSEMBLE - FOR HIS PERFORMANCE IN MILK HEATH LEDGER IS HONORED POSTHUMOUSLY FOR HIS WORK IN THE DARK KNIGHT WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT GALA AWARDS CEREMONY BROADCAST LIVE ON VH1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009 AT 9:00 PM (ET/PT) SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan.

By Claudia Puig The exhilarating and sweeping Slumdog Millionaire (**** out of four) is one in a million. Director Danny Boyle's riveting and kaleidoscopic tale, based on Vikas Swarup's debut novel Q and A, is exquisitely adapted to the screen by Simon Beaufoy.