(OSEN)

K-pop boy group WINNER was crowned the top rookie band of 2014, beating its rival GOT7.

WINNER won the Best New Artist award at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards held in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

WINNER member Kang Seung-yoon said in his acceptance speech that “I am grateful that we received the rookie prize we have always wanted.”

WINNER debuted in August with the EP “2014 S/S” and the single “Empty.”

(Mnet)

They are the newest group of YG Entertainment, one of the biggest labels in Korea.

GOT7, which also debuted this year under JYP Entertainment, failed to nab any awards at MAMA.

EXO received the Singer of the Year and Album of the Year awards, two of the three top honors, as well as the Best Male Band and the Best Asian Style awards.

Another top honor, Song of the Year, went to Taeyang, a member of the popular boy band Big Bang, for his solo single “Eyes, Nose, Lips.”

MAMA, hosted by cable-TV music channel Mnet, has presented awards to a slew of Asian artists, mostly K-pop musicians, since 2009, gaining recognition as an iconic pan-Asia music festival.

The annual award ceremony was previously held in Macau in 2010, Singapore in 2011 and Hong Kong in 2012 and 2013.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)