The Top Award from Movieguide Goes to "The Chosen"

The hit series about Jesus' earthly ministry picks up the honor for its theatrical release last year.

Lead actor Jonathan Roumie of "The Chosen" (right) stands on stage with host Terry Crews at the 30th Annual Movieguide Awards. Image: "The Chosen"/Movieguide/from Instagram.

It is not just the growing legions of fans of The Chosen who love the show: the critics from Movieguide do too. At this year's 30th annual Movieguide Awards, put on by the Christian film reviewing organization, the hit show was rewarded - somewhat paradoxically - in the movie category with the Epiphany Prize.

Jonathan Roumie appears in the Sermon-on-the-Mount scene from Season 3 of the show. Image: "The Chosen"/screenshot from YouTube.

That honor goes to the most uplifting theatrically released feature, and The Chosen Season 3 episodes one and two won it since, as you may remember, they debuted in theaters for a limited engagement last fall. The production performed well at the box office, too, bringing home $14.6 million in just three weeks in November and December.

This faith-based show, which streams for free, has been seen by an estimated 100 million people and racked up nearly half a billion views worldwide in just three seasons. Created and directed by Dallas Jenkins and starring Jonathan Roumie - both of whom are committed Christians - the program is scheduled to launch production of the eight-episode fourth season later this month, as we previously reported.

Back to the Movieguide Awards, Christian actress Candace Cameron Bure was another big winner, which you can read about in detail here, bringing home an award for her performance in A Christmas...Present, which landed a trophy of its own in the Best Family TV category. You can view all this year's winners through this link to Movieguide's Instagram page.