Made in Manitoba artists were well represented among winners at the 41st Annual GMA Covenant Awards Saturday.

Manitoba talent including The Color, Fresh IE, Rosemary Siemens, and Jaylene Johnson were among those acknowledged with Gospel Music Awards last night during the event.

The GMA ceremony was livestreamed online after the GMA Advisory Board announced earlier this week that they would not be doing a live in-person awards presentation due to concerns over COVID-19.

"Due to the increase in confirmed cases in North America in recent days and weeks—we have decided to transition our GMA Week 2020 activities and the 41st Covenant Awards scheduled for March 20th and 21st, on the Trinity Western University campus, to an online experience," stated Gregory J. Strom, President of GMA Canada.

The event continued with an "online immersive experience," which included the ability for winning artists to accept their awards and present speeches over livestream.

With news of winning artists still being slowly released, here's a look at the winners we know so far.

The Color

Local boys The Color took home four Covenant Awards yesterday, including Artist of the Year, Group of the Year, Pop Song ("The Kind Of Man"), and Collaboration ("The Kind Of Man, Neon Feather remix").

The Color, who are originally from Winkler, Manitoba, shared their win in an online post, saying they were "honoured to win.

"Thanks to our families, friends and fans for your love and support," the band shared, also acknowledging the GMAs and Neon Feather Music for collaborating with them on their now-GMA-awarded remix, "The Kind Of Man."

Honoured to win... ·Artist Of The Year ·Group Of The Year ·Pop Song (The Kind Of Man) ·Collaboration (The Kind Of Man,...

Posted by THE COLOR on Saturday, March 21, 2020

The group also thanked American Christian musician Jeff Pardo for "suggesting to write a second song that day when we wrote "The Kind Of Man" together and for always being in our corner."

Jaylene Johnson

Winnipeg singer-songwriter Jaylene Johnson picked up three Covenant Awards, including Folk Song of the Year.

Johnson was also honoured with Children's Song of the Year as a co-writer alongside Rosemary Siemens for their song, "You And Me," and Seasonal Song of the Year with Canadian Christian singer-songwriter Brant Pethick.

The singer-songwriter shared she is feeling Johnson announced her wins in a video posted to Facebook, where she commented on the "really cool online virtual experience," and shared she is feeling "really blessed.

"[It was] really neat for me as a songwriter to have some nominations in some different genres of music and to have the chance to serve artists as they get their message out there through their songs."

Honoured with Three Covenant Awards Today!

Thanks for three awards GMA Canada! Congrats to all of the Covenant Award nominees/winners today, & to all of you who continue to be faithful with your craft & ministry, whether or not you receive any nods for it. To quote Carolyn Arends : what you do is important. Whether this season is an incubator for or a generator of songs, I pray that some amazing, inspired art comes out of all of this. Congrats to my co-writers, Rosemary Siemens (Children’s Song of the Year) and Brant Pethick (Seasonal Song of the Year) Thanks: to Murray Pulver for the beautiful production/playing on “How Long” (Folk Song of the Year); to Ryan Voth and Julian Bradford for lending their talents; to Steve Bell & Signpost Music for all of the support in getting this song recorded; to FACTOR, Manitoba Film and Music, and all of the crowdfunders...no one would have heard this song without you! #folksongoftheyear #childrenssongoftheyear #seasonalsongoftheyear #GMA41 #covenantawards #songwriterlife #thankyou #awards #music #christianmusic #songwriting #canadianchristianmusic #songs #christianartists

Posted by Jaylene Johnson on Saturday, March 21, 2020

Johnson also commented on the current COVID-19 situation.

"My prayer is that as through this season that we're going through in our world, there would be many songs written that would continue to inspire people and encourage people, comfort people and share the hope that we have in Jesus."

Fresh IE

"WOW !!! I'm so humbled, I found out I won 2 GMA Awards!!!," Robert Wilson, also known as Fresh IE, wrote in an online post Saturday.

Fresh IE took home awards for Rap Album of the Year and Rap Song of the Year with Warren D. Flandez and Zeek Illa.

"I share this win with all my family and friends and my City, for everyone grinding out there!!! And most of all JESUS," Fresh IE says.

WOW !!! I'm so humbled, I found out I won 2 GMA Awards!!! Rap Album of the year, and Rap song of the year with Warren D...

Posted by Robert Wilson on Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Winnipeg artist also congratulated all the artists who received GMA nominations this year.

Rosemary Siemens

Plum Coulee musician Rosemary Siemens won Children's Song of the Year ("You And Me") and Instrumental Song of the Year alongside her husband, Eli Bennett.

Both awards hold sweet meaning for Siemens. "You and Me," written with Jaylene Johnson, was written prior to the birth of Siemens' son, Theodore Parker Bennett. Her husband recorded and produced the song on Siemens' due date and was the song Siemens and Bennett used to announce the birth of Theodore.

"After Eli and I played 175 shows in 100 cities, “You and Me” is how we let the world know that we had just had a baby!" Siemens shared in an online post.

View this post on Instagram

During all of the crazy times we are living through right now and with all of our live shows being cancelled until at least July I wanted to share some good news!! ⠀ ⠀ I just won 2 Canadian GOSPEL MUSIC AWARDS!! One for Children’s Song of the Year for our song “You And Me”. This was so special because this is the song that the amazing @instajaylene and I wrote together before @theodoreparkerbennett was even born and @elibennettmusic recorded and produced this song on my due date in our home! After Eli and I played 175 shows in 100 cities “You and Me” is how we let the world know that we had just had a baby! ⠀ ⠀ Today we were supposed to play at the @gmacanada Awards Show and instead they were online and Theodore got to accept the award with us online through video, it was very special! It is his song and we are so blessed to have him be a part of this all❤️⠀ ⠀ The second award was Instrumental Song of the Year by @saxandviolin for our cover of “You Say” by @lauren_daigle ! This is our first award as husband and wife and this is one of the first songs that Eli recorded of us and it is so special to have both of these songs on our album “Can’t Help Falling In Love” ❤️ ⠀ We are so thankful to Gregory J. Strom for all his work in putting on the Gospel Music Awards and then having to cancel and now making a virtual awards ceremony to celebrate Christian artists in Canada! We thank you so much!!!⠀ ⠀ Congrats to all of the other nominees and winners and to our bestie @wdflandez on a great job of hosting and on your win!!!⠀ ⠀ Time to celebrate from our quarentined zone! 12 days and counting☺️🙏🏻⠀ ⠀ To purchase these songs on our album go to:(link in bio) https://saxandviolin.com/store/⠀ • Makeup: @_anavallen Hair: @chrisfunkhair Dress: @zoffranieri Styled: @wdrobe_apparel @alexandrasthompson 📸 @tomhawkinsphotography

A post shared by Rosemary Siemens🎻 (@rosemarysiemens) on

Siemens and Bennett were scheduled to play at the GMA awards prior to their decision to move the awards online, a decision Siemens saw a silver lining in.

"Today we were supposed to play at the @gmacanada Awards Show and instead they were online and Theodore got to accept the award with us online through video, it was very special! It is his song and we are so blessed to have him be a part of this all," Siemens says.

Siemens and Bennett also won Instrumental Song of the Year for their cover of Lauren Daigle's "You Say."

The award is their first as husband and wife.

Siemens and Bennett celebrated their wins alongside son Theodore while in quarantine.

"We are so thankful to Gregory J. Strom for all his work in putting on the Gospel Music Awards and then having to cancel and now making a virtual awards ceremony to celebrate Christian artists in Canada! We thank you so much!!! Congrats  to all of the other nominees and winners and to our bestie @wdflandez on a great job of hosting and on your win!!!

"Time to celebrate from our quarentined zone! 12 days and counting," says Siemens. 

Updates to come.