On Tuesday, October 23rd, HIH Prince Hitachi, honorary patron of the Japan Art Association, presented the Praemium Imperiale Awards at a formal ceremony in Tokyo to this year’s Laureates; internationally renowned artists who have shown extraordinary achievements in the fields of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, and Theater/Film. All Laureates received specially-designed gold medals and testimonial letters. With an honorarium of 15 million yen(c $190,000) per category, the awards recognize a lifetime achievement in the Arts, in categories not covered by the Nobel Prizes.

The 2012 Praemium Imperiale Laureates are:

Cai Guo-Qiang      (China)              Painting
Cecco Bonanotte  (Italy)                Sculpture
Henning Larsen    (Denmark)         Architecture
Philip Glass           (USA)                Music
Yoko Morishita      (Japan)            Theatre/Film

The recipient of the annual Grant for Young Artist award (presented in September) was The Sphinx Organization (Detroit, USA). The organization received a grant of 5 million yen (c $60,000) to support its goal of nurturing the involvement of young people in the art.