Madrid - One of the winners of Spain's top cinema award had it stolen immediately after the award gala, only to get it back less than 24 hours later, the daily El Mundo reported Tuesday.

Director Albert Sole won the Goya Award for best documentary for his film Bucarest, La memoria perdida (Bucharest, the lost memory).

Sole then went to celebrate his triumph at a Madrid discotheque, leaving the Goya statuette at the wardrobe early Monday. When he came back, it was gone.

The thief soon called El Mundo, arranged a meeting with a reporter and handed him the statuette, which he had taken under the impulse of a moment.

"I felt sorry to see it on the floor of the wardrobe and told the girl (wardrobe attendant): 'Give me my coat and the Goya'," El Mundo quoted the man, whose name was not given, as saying.

"I am fed up with the awards always going to the same people," the unemployed cinema critic said to explain why he had grabbed the Goya. (dpa)