Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and American author Paul Auster have each received one of Spain’s top prizes for outstanding achievement in their fields, the Prince of Asturias Award.

Eight awards, carrying a cash prize of about 50,000 euros ($71,000) each, are handed out annually in areas of the arts, science, sports and international co-operation.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, winner of two Oscars, has captured one of Spain's top awards in the arts, the Prince of Asturias prize.
(Canadian Press)

“I don’t know why I do what I do, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t feel the need to. My drive is to write,” said Auster at Friday night’s ceremony at the northern city of Orviedo, where Spain’s crown prince Felipe and his wife were present.

The Brooklyn-based author, who writes essays, novels and poems, may be best known for his three novels called The New York Trilogy. Other writers who have received the award include Guenter Grass, Arthur Miller and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Each winner also receives a sculpture by Spanish artist Joan Miro. More than 300 candidates were considered for the 2006 awards.

Almodovar, garnering praise this year for his film Volver starring Penelope Cruz, captured the prize in the arts category.

The 57-year-old director has written, directed and acted in 30 films. His other well-known films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1990), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1991) and The Flower of My Secret (1995).

He won an Academy Award in 1999 for best foreign-language film for All About My Mother and then again in 2004 for best screenplay for Bad Education.

Awards this year were also given to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mary Robinson, the former UN high commissioner for human rights, and Spanish physicist Juan Ignacio Cirac Sasturain.