'The Handmaid's Tale' is the first streaming show to win Best Drama at the Emmys

Blessed be the fruit: The Handmaid's Tale has won the top award at the 2017 Emmys, taking home the gold for best drama in one of the most competitive fields of the past decade.

With reigning champ Game of Thrones ineligible to compete for this year's Outstanding Drama prize, the competition was wide open, with the freshman Handmaid's Tale triumphing over fellow newcomers Stranger Things, This Is Us, Westworld and The Crown, plus returning stalwarts Better Call Saul and House of Cards.

2017 marks the first year that Hulu has made a major awards showing, but slow and steady wins the race -- while rivals Amazon and Netflix have both scooped numerous wins in other Emmy categories, neither network has triumphed in the Outstanding Drama or Comedy race thus far.

The Handmaid's Tale also earned star Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd Emmys earlier in the evening, and nabbed three awards at last week's Creative Arts Emmys, with wins for cinematography, production design and guest actress Alexis Bledel. And that's not all: The streaming network won two additional awards for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years at the Creative Arts.