You don’t need to tell anyone in New Orleans that Irma Thomas and Tab Benoit are two of the best, but that’s been officially confirmed by the Blues Foundation this week. Both were among the winners in the Blues Music Award ceremony, which happened Thursday night at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Guitar-slinger Benoit was named best Contemporary Blues Male Artist, while longtime local treasure Thomas won as Soul Blues Female Artist.

Both winners were in good company: The Rolling Stones, who of course borrowed their early hit “Time Is On My Side” from Thomas, won the Best DVD award for their Live at Checkerboard Lounge featuring Muddy Waters. Longtime Jazz Fest favorites, the Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Band won as Best Blues Rock Album for Everybody’s Talkin’. Other winners included Magic Slim and Ruthie Foster, respectively as best Traditional Blues male and female artists; Janiva Magness as Contemporary Blues female artist, and Curtus Salgado as entertainer of the year. A full list of the winners is here.

Both artists were fresh from double Jazz Fest appearances; Thomas doing sacred and secular sets and Benoit playing with his band and the Voice of the Wetlands. Thomas since did her annual Mother’s Day show at Audubon Zoo, while Benoit is working on his next album for Telarc.