Judges quit theatre awards after Dame Helen Mirren won Best Actress in 'rigged' vote Organisers said Dame Helen won award after a judge revised his vote Actress won the award for her performance in The Audience One judge changed vote after secret ballot created a dead heat Dame Helen was awarded the accolade for her role in The Audience, which is about the Queen's weekly meetings with her Prime Ministers from Churchill to Cameron Three critics have quit the judging panel of a high-profile theatre awards after Dame Helen Mirren won the award for Best Actress when a judge changed their vote. The organisers of the Evening Standard Theatre Awards said Dame Helen won the award when a judge who works for the newspaper revised his vote after a secret ballot placed two other nominees in a dead heat. The actress won the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress at a glittering ceremony last month at the Savoy Hotel in London for her performance in The Audience. According to The Times, the Evening Standard's theatre critic Henry Hitchings changed his vote which allowed Dame Helen to win. The shortlist for the award also consisted of Linda Bassett, Lesley Manville, Billie Piper and Kristin Scott Thomas. Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands, who was also on the judging panel, told The Times nothing illegitimate had taken place and Mr Hitchings changed his vote because his choice, Rosalie Craig, had been removed from the list. She said: 'In discussion about what was a dead heat, Henry and I decided that we would go for an option that would make Helen Mirren the winner. By doing a first and second vote we could balance the two factions with a third option, which is what happened. An Evening Standard spokesman told MailOnline: 'The judging for the Evening Standard Theatre awards was conducted properly. The transferable vote is a perfectly legitimate and long standing element of judging. 'One judge's first choice in the category in question was a winner in a different category; therefore his second choice became his first vote. Charles Spencer (left), theatre critic for The Telegraph, and Georgina Brown (right), of The Mail on Sunday, were reported to have been two of the judges who quit the panel The result of the transferred vote, without a clear winner in the category, gave us our best actress. According to The Times, the three judges to have left the panel are Charles Spencer, theatre critic for The Telegraph, Georgina Brown, of The Mail on Sunday, and Susannah Clapp, of The Observer. It has been reported one of the outgoing critics alleged one of the awards 'seemed like a fix'. Libby Purves, former chief theatre critic of The Times, and the International Herald Tribune's Matt Wolf are believed to have stayed on. Dame Helen was awarded the accolade for her role in The Audience, which is about the Queen's weekly meetings with her Prime Ministers from Churchill to Cameron. The actress has won an array of awards, including an Oscar and a Bafta, for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears film The Queen. The Observer's Susannah Clapp was also reported to have been one of the judges who quit the panel But she was not the only dame being celebrated on the night of the awards. Maggie Smith was given the Standard's Icon Award for her contribution to the world stage. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kevin Spacey were also presented with special honours at the ceremony. Top awards also went to Rory Kinnear and Adrian Lester who were jointly named best actor for their roles in the National Theatre production of Othello. Richard Eyre was voted best director for his production of Ghosts with Lesley Manville at the Almeida in north London. Lucy Kirkwood took the best play award for her drama Chimerica. Seth Numrich was named newcomer of the year while the comedy award went to David Walliams for his role as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Merrily We Roll Along was acclaimed as best musical of the year beating popular hit The Book of Mormon. Cush Jumbo and Rosalie Craig took prizes for emerging talent and best musical performance respectively. Bob Crowley won the best design award for his work on three shows -- Alan Bennett's play People, Peter Morgan's drama The Audience and the musical Once. Actress Billie Piper, left, with husband Laurence Fox at the awards, was also nominated in the Best Actress category while David Walliams, right, won the comedy award for his role as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream