Emma Watson was declared Best Actor in a Movie at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday night, for her role in Beauty and the Beast.

The award – the first major gong Watson has received for her starring role as Belle – was a personally significant one for the 27-year-old actor. But as the first gender-neutral acting award in history, it also represented a ground-breaking moment for awards ceremonies in general.

Watson was up against Taraji P. Henson, Daniel Kaluuya, James McAvoy and Hailee Steinfeld for the “gender-free” Best Actor award, for their roles in Hidden Figures, Get Out, Split and The Edge of Seventeen respectively.

In an emotional acceptance speech, Watson paid tribute to the philosophy behind her MTV Movie award.

“I feel I have to say something about the award itself – the first acting award in history that doesn’t separate nominees based on their sex,” she said.

“It says something about how we perceive the human experience.”

Emma Watson makes history with her gender-neutral award acceptance speech