British rock group Genesis were honoured with a Lifetime Achievement prize at the inaugural Progressive Music Awards in London on Wednesday night.
Guitarist Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks picked up the trophy during the ceremony at Kew Gardens in London. Founding member of the band, Banks, told reporters, "Our own music has varied over the years. We've been fairly broad, we've done some stuff you'd call progressive and some you'd call more mainstream. But we love writing." Elsewhere at the awards, Canadian rockers Rush, who's album Clockwork Angels won the Album of The Year award and Rick Wakeman, who battled it out with his former Yes band mate Jon Anderson to win the Prog God award. The Anthem Award for given to former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Yes bass player Chris Squire for their collaborative album A Life Within A Day, while Pink Floyd were honoured with a design award for their Immersion reissued box sets.
The awards don't just celebrate the grandfathers of rock, but also those making waves on the contemporary scene. TesseracT, who won a newcomer award, having released their debut album One in 2011, were humbled to be recognized: "All of us are massive Pink Floyd fans, so to be acknowledged by people of a similar school is quite surreal. We're just this tiny little band from England who've travelled far, but were still at the beginning of what we hope is a long career."