The Order creator Dennis Heaton was feted with the showrunner award at the virtual Writer’s Guild of Canada (WGC) award ceremony as Jann and Coroner earned the respective prizes for comedy and drama.

Hosted by a pants-free Gavin Crawford via the WGC’s YouTube channel last night (April 27), the comedian announced the winners in lieu of a physical ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heaton picked up the WGC Showrunner Award for his long-time work as a showrunner for series like Motive and Ghost Wars, and most recently for the Netflix series The Order. Heaton currently serves as the WGC president.

He took to Twitter to accept the honour, noting “these are strange times to win an award,” and adding, “I hope to see all of you soon, and to celebrate our accomplishments in the style they deserve to be celebrated.”

Jann Arden and Jennica Harper won in the Comedy Series category for the Jann (Project 10 Productions) episode “The Big House,” while Noelle Carbone earned the Drama Series prize for the Coroner (Muse Entertainment, Back Alley Films, Cineflix Studios) episode “All’s Well.”

Carbone also accepted the award via Twitter, taking the time to pay tribute to showrunner Morwyn Brebner for creating a safe space in the writer’s room and motivate them “to write the deeply personal episodes that only they could write [when they]… live happy, healthy balanced lives.”

Cynthia Knight and Nathalie Younglai were the recipients of the WGC’s special awards. Knight received the Sondra Kelly Award, given to a mid-level female scribe with a $5,000 grant to work on a project. Knight, who previously co-created the APTN series Mohawk Girls, will use the grant to develop her series STEPmoms. Younglai received the Alex Barris Mentorship Award for her work in elevating opportunities for BIPOC writers in Canada. Younglai is set to receive the Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Academy when the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards are handed out.

Mark Steinberg won in the Children’s category for the Hotel Transylvania: The Series (Nelvana) episode “Better Know Your Mavis,” Emma Campbell won in Tweens and Teens for Creeped Out‘s (WildBrain, CBBC) “The Takedown,” and the Preschool category went to J.J. Johnson, Christin Simms and Amish Patel for the Dino Dana (Sinking Ship) episode “Dino Prints.”

On the film side, Laura Phillips won in Feature Film for Sweetness in the Belly (Sienna Films, Parallel Films) and Nance Ackerman, Ariella Pahlke and Teresa MacInnes won in the Documentary category for Conviction (Sea to Sea Productions).

David Elver and Andrea Stevens won in the MOW and Miniseries category for the TV movie Thicker Than Water (Incendo Productions), while Fabrizio Filippo won the Shorts and Webseries category for the Save Me (iThentic) episode “Birdie’s End.”

The winners are set to be celebrated in-person at the 25th annual WGC Awards, scheduled for April 26, 2021 at Koerner Hall.