The composer Philip Glass and Cai Guo-Qiang, the Chinese contemporary artist who designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics, are among the winners of the Praemium Imperiale arts awards given out by the Japan Art Association. The awards, which recognize lifetime achievement in the arts, carry an $187,000 prize. The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on Wednesday. Cecco Bonanotte from Italy won the sculpture award, while Henning Larsen of Denmark was named in the architecture category and Yoko Morishita for theater and film.

The Sphinx Organization, a group based in Detroit, will also take home about $63,000 for winning the Grant for Young Artists.

“The arts are a common language for all people, reaching beyond national borders, rising above

differences in religion, race and customs,” said Hisashi Hieda, chairman of the Japan Art Association. “The arts also provide comfort and encouragement in times of crisis. After last year’s disaster in Japan we received warm encouragement and support from people all over the world, including many past laureates whose works offer hope for the future.”

The award ceremony will be held in Tokyo on Oct. 23.

For more on this story go to:

The Praemium Imperiale Award is the world’s largest and most prestigious arts prize, awarded annually by the Japan Art Association. Since honouring its first laureates in 1989, the award has become a hallmark of the highest international recognition for achievements in the arts.

The award is presented to artists who have contributed significantly to international arts and culture in each of five fields: painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film. Every year the winners of the prize are selected by the Board of Trustees of the Japan Art Association based on a list of nominations submitted by the six international advisory members: Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan; William H. Luers, former President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Lamberto Dini, former Prime Minister of Italy; François Pinault, President of the François Pinault Foundation for Contemporary Art; Christopher Francis Patten, Chancellor of the University of Oxford; and Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, President of the Goethe-Institut.