Covenant Awards

Save the Date

2024-11-14 12:30:32 by Jaylene Johnson

Plans are underway for The 44th Covenant Awards, April 25th & 26th, 2025 in Winnipeg, MB...Stay tuned!

The 43rd Covenant Awards Schedule and Site Maps

2023-10-13 03:33:23 by Jaylene Johnson

Click here for a link to view and download the schedule and other info for the 43rd Covenant Awards.

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

2023-10-13 03:14:24 by Jaylene Johnson

GMA Canada is pleased to announce the Lifetime Achievement Award recipients for the 43rd Covenant Awards. 

The Graf-Martin Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Scott Jackson on Friday, November, 17th at the Covenant Awards in Kitchener, ON. The GMA Canada Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Dr. Trevor Payne on Saturday, November 18th. Audio-visual tributes to each recipient will accompany their awards. 

Congratulations to these two incredible champions of Christian and Gospel music in Canada. It is an honour to acknowledge your decades-long contributions. Thank you, and God bless you! And special thanks to Graf-Martin Communications for their award sponsorship this year. We are blessed to partner with you!

2023-09-28 10:44:29 by Jaylene Johnson

Interested in ads with GMA Canada? Contact us to see how we might partner to share the story of Canadian Christian and Gospel music...

Round 2 voting is now closed

2023-09-24 12:26:01 by Jaylene Johnson

Voting closed October 9th...Thank you to all who submitted for the awards...It is a joy to journey with you!

This event is now closed...Stay tuned for The 44th Covenant Awards

2023-09-12 09:20:47 by Jaylene Johnson

It's time to register for the 43rd Covenant Awards weekend, Friday, November 17th, and Saturday, November 18th, in Kitchener, Ontario...the registration link is found at the end of this message.

So, what can you expect at the 43rd Covenant Awards?

1) A welcoming church - Bethany Evangelical Missionary Church has opened its doors to host the GMA Canada community for this event, and have a small army of volunteers set to welcome us all. Thanks to big thanks to the church board, Kevin Pauls, Pastor Anthony Does, Darlene Schnider, and the many other key folks involved!

2) A weekend of connecting - There will be lots of opportunities to connect with one another - to network, to encourage - including a Saturday AM brunch and two after parties catered by the amazing Chef D! 

3) Two evenings of celebrating, including live performances and awards.

4) Workshops Friday and Saturday, starting with a Gospel Music workshop led by Darren Hamilton (Waterloo Regional Mass Choir) on Friday at 1:30PM. Pre-registration is required for this workshop (send an email to jaylene@gmacanada.ca indicating your plan to attend), and all who participate will be invited to sing with the choir at Saturday night's Covenant Awards...How cool is that?!

Saturday afternoon's workshops will include a variety of topics to build us up, and include worshipping together; a word from Paster Anthony; a thoughtful, timely, and interactive presentation by Jay Woods and Jon Corbin, discussing the intersectionality of creative work, faith, mental health, and community; and more. 

An early-bird rate is ineffect until October 6th. Individual tickets for the two evenings of awards and live music will go on sale beginning in November, as space is available. we want to make space for all of the weekend's delegates before opening seats to the general public. 

Registration packages will be available as early as noon on Friday, November 17th, in the church foyer.

Some of you may be traveling a good distance and need a hotel. Limited rooms have been made available under a group rate at the Crowne Plaza KW Hotel in downtown Kitchener. You can access this by clicking HERE. The following is info from the hotel regarding these reservations:

• All guests are responsible for their own charges.
• For check-in the Guest must have his valid ID (passport or driver’s licence) and present it at the reception on arrival.
• All Prices are in Canadian Dollars per room per night and for the mentioned dates on Single / Double occupancy basis. Extra accommodation in room – additional cost of C$15 per night.
• Breakfast is not included in the room rate. It is available daily at the price of $20 in the Hotel restaurant.
• Two-leveled parking is available on arrival at the price of $12 per night
• 4% Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) & HST – 13% applicable (The hotel assumes no responsibility for a change in tax rate).
• Hotel requires an incidentals deposit of C$100 per room made with Guests’ CC on arrival.
• Hotel check-in time is 3:00 pm. Check-out time is 11:00 am.
• Guest room allotments are subject to availability at time of booking. While the hotel will make every effort to accommodate your reservation requirements; we will assign room types according to availability on that day.
• Complimentary Wi-Fi in guest rooms and meeting space.
• Group rate was offered based on minimum of 10 rooms per night. If the group will pick less than 10 rooms University’s Corporate Rate will be applicable instead.
• Individual Cancellation Policy: Seven days before the group’s check-in date according to the check-in time.

We look forward to seeing you! REGISTER NOW! 

Round One Voting is Open - Choose Your Nominees

2023-09-04 02:05:08 by Jaylene Johnson

GMA Canada members may now cast their votes for nominees across various categories. Be sure to check out Jason's short video tutorial on casting votes, too (Thanks, Jason!)

Take your time in reviewing all of the submissions. Your nominee list may be edited until September 22nd.

Categories with only 3-5 submissions have automatic nominations, and will open for voting in the second round, later this month.

Click here to get started. 

Editing/Updating Your Supporting Docs

2023-08-18 10:51:19 by Jason Silver

I thought I should let everyone know that I've just finished adding the feature to edit your supporting documentation when you submit an award.

Go to:
https://www.covenantawards.ca/awards/submissions

If you visit that link before the deadline, you'll be able to view and edit your submission documentation.

Also, a reminder that your songs should have lyrics, and be sure to test the play buttons. Let me know if you have trouble, and I'll gladly help out!

2023-08-17 11:42:51 by Jaylene Johnson

Submissions are now open!

2023-07-16 02:39:31 by Jaylene Johnson

Reach out if you have any questions or concerns, and thanks for your patience as we launch this new platform for the Covenant Awards. Thanks to Jason Silver for stepping up and putting it together! We hope it will be a blessing to our community. 

Be well, 

Jaylene Johnson

VP GMA Canada Advisory Board

Welcome here!

2023-07-12 03:06:33 by Jaylene Johnson

On behalf of your GMA Canada Advisory Board, welcome here! 

We are so pleased to be able to offer this website as a "hub" for the Covenant Awards. Here, you will be able to submit for awards, vote, keep your GMA Canada membership and profile up-to-date, and explore one another's music and ministries. We love that this website can serve as a resource and as a directory, as well. Our profound thanks goes out to fellow member, Jason Silver, who has created this online space to bring us together. It has been a joy to work with him to find ways we can serve our community. 

Please reach out with any questions or concerns. 

Jaylene Johnson

VP GMA Canada Advisory Board

The 43rd Covenant Awards

2023-06-13 07:19:26 by Jaylene Johnson

We are pleased to announce...

The Covenant Awards will be held live and in person this fall in Kitchener-Waterloo, November 17th-19th. We are planning a two-evening event with awards and performances both nights, and a chance to learn and network on the Saturday during the day. More details will follow soon...

We are so happy that we will be able to gather in person again. It was clear through our survey that being together in person is meaningful for our membership - a chance to have face-to-face fellowship as Christ-followers, to pray and worship together, and to celebrate Canadian Christian Music.

Thank you to those who took the time to fill in our survey, and to provide helpful anecdotal feedback. The kind words were also very appreciated. It is worth noting that GMA Canada functions because of volunteer work, with some modest contract work on the operations side (for example, the production of the awards) We appreciate your patience as our timelines are not as consistent as they have been in the past. It is also worth noting that the primary focus of GMA Canada is to facilitate the Covenant Awards. This is the way we believe we can best encourage and amplify Canadian Christian music with the resources we have. We are grateful for your patience as we work toward this year's in-person event. 

Also, one of our members has been working with us to create a new website that will facilitate submissions and voting. Hard work is happening to deliver it soon, and we are really excited about its possibilities. Members will be able to pay their memberships and submission fees on the site, and each have a profile page that they can update with their current bios, music releases, and promo photos. We will also be able to listen to one another's music while we navigate the site. 

Stay tuned...and thanks for your prayers and ongoing support. 

Jaylene Johnson
On behalf of your GMA Canada Advisory Board

Artist Profiles

2023-06-04 07:20:02 by Jason Silver

Hey artists - if you've stumbled upon this website and would like to update your profile, bio, photo, socials, or anything else, then make sure your membership is up-to-date, and reach out to me. We'll get you set up right away!

New Website!

2023-05-31 07:04:17 by Jaylene Johnson

We are so excited to see our new website under development... Looking forward to launch!

New Awards Website Underway

2023-05-26 08:18:13 by Jason Silver

Happy Easter!

2023-04-09 04:27:00 by Jaylene Johnson

From GMA Canada…Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Black History Month

2023-02-02 02:33:00 by Jaylene Johnson

Black History Month has started and we want to give a huge shout out to all of Canada’s Black Christian and Gospel artists who are making history through their music. Praise God for the ministry and art that flow through you as you nurture and share your gifts! And to all of our members…Take a dive into the wonderful music created by our Black brothers and sisters, and post some shout-outs of your own!

Covenant Awards

2022-11-29 01:35:00 by Jaylene Johnson

Thinking back to this wonderful hat-wearing (?) crew of people, pulling off the 42nd Covenant Awards from the studio @trinitywestern. Such a pleasure to witness the chemistry between our uber-talented hosts @rikasiewert and @briandoerksen, and to celebrate in person with Steve Rendall and his wife Cathy, as Steve accepted his Lifetime Achievement award.

Kudos to Jordan Burgess and Jeff Snider of TWU studio, and Rachel Vandevert for being on top of the script via teleprompter…you all did such a great job! And wasn’t Patricia Victor’s land acknowledgment and prayer for us such a blessing? Thank you, Patti.

Luke Vandevert, what a delight to work with you. You are so creative and a total pro! We sure did laugh, and I loved that!

Greg Strom…Thanks for sending the recipient artists over to us via Zoom; for stepping into that role, and navigating all of the details and Zoom delays…Appreciate you.

To all who tuned in from home, or who have streamed the awards at GMACanada.ca, we thank you too! I’m so thankful for God’s faithfulness, for a solid and fun team, an awesome broadcast space, and for so many talented contributors to make the event a success. Having such diversity in our performers was extremely important, and so special, for me and for our board. (We have an awesome Advisory Board!)

Next awards, we want to see every category well-populated, and to encourage even more artists and songwriters, including those who are in the margins of the industry and doing such incredible work…Thanks to ALL who submitted this year. It’s a joy to know we are, as different members of GMA Canada, contributing from the same centre point - a love for Jesus and one another.

Hearing the late Amoy Levy sing and speak about this was beautiful. What an inspiring legacy - Love God, love people, and sing your heart out.

So to our recipients…congrats again. And to all of us…what’s next? Can’t wait to hear it.

God bless you!

Jaylene