The Arts Foundation has announced its five Laureates for 2009 - writer Witi Ihimaera, carver Lyonel Grant, photographer Anne Noble and musicians Richard Nunns and Chris Knox.
Each receives a cash prize of $50,000.
Professor Ihimaera says he will be retiring from his position at Auckland University next year and will use the money to research and write two more historical novels.
He was criticised recently for failing to credit other authors' material in his latest novel, The Trowenna Sea.
At the announcement of the awards on Tuesday he apologised again to those people he says he inadvertently, and regretfully, did not acknowledge.
Richard Nunns, who rediscovered ancient Maori sounds, says the affirmation of Maori communities allowed him to continue his investigations into traditional Maori instruments.
He worked with stone carver Brian Flintoff and the late Hirini Melbourne from Ngai Tuhoe to recreate taonga puora and work out how to play them.
Richard Nunns, who has Parkinson's disease, says the money will help him move house and build a new studio so he can protect and record the instruments he has discovered over the years.
Lyonel Grant of Ngati Pikiao says he's still getting over completing a new meeting house at Unitec, which has consumed all his energy for the past six years.
He also received an honorary doctorate from the west Auckland polytechnic this hear.
He says the laureate award, and the money, will give him a chance to reflect on his career, and possibly to write a book about the meeting house, Te Noho Kotahitanga.
Rock musician Chris Knox was notified a few days after suffering a stroke in April this year.
His wife Barbara Ward says the award recognises a lifetime of creativity and the money will go toward her husband's recovery.
The work of Professor Anne Noble, of Massey University's School of Fine Arts, is represented in contemporary collections worldwide.
In 2003 she was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to photography in New Zealand.
