Genesis members Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks were honored with a lifetime achievement award at the first ever Progressive Music Awards last week.  The awards were created by Prog Magazine and hosted by BBC Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler.

“These awards have been a long time coming,” said Prog Magazine editor Jerry Ewing. “But certainly, when one considers the enormous amount of success that progressive artists have garnered over the past four decades, and perhaps more importantly, the enjoyment they have given millions of fans over the years, it felt only right that we give something back.”

After accepting the lifetime achievement award for Genesis, keyboardist Tony Banks said, “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.”

Also receiving awards were ex-Yes member Rick Wakeman (Prog God Award), Emerson, Lake and Palmer drummer Carl Palmer (Virtuoso Award), Rush (Album of the Year for Clockwork Angels), Pink Floyd (Grand Design for this past year’s Immersion Reissues), Steven Wilson (Guiding Light Award), Peter Hammill (Visionary Award), Squackett (Anthem Award for A Life Within A Day), Anathema (Live Event Award), and TesseracT (New Blood Award).