Veteran Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki will be honoured with the 2019 Sklar Creative Visionary Award.
The creator of iconic fantasy/mystery animation "Spirited Away", Miyazaki will receive the award at this year's annual Ryman Arts dinner and program on October 25.
"Ryman Arts is thrilled that the legendary Hayao Miyazaki will be the next recipient of the Sklar Creative Visionary Award. His incredible work has advanced the art of visual storytelling and influenced the entire genre of animation while inspiring us all.
"I can't imagine any other individual who so strongly exemplifies the essence of the visionary creativity which this award celebrates," Ryman Arts Board President and Creative Executive of The Hettema Group, Phil Hettema, said in a statement to Variety.
Miyazaki will be the second recipient of the award after last year's winner, Marvel Studio chief, Kevin Feige.
The Tokyo-born director has an array of widely-acclaimed films to his credit including "Howl's Moving Castle, "Ponyo" and "The Wind Rises", for which he received an Academy Award nomination for best-animated feature film in 2013.
In 2014, Miyazaki was presented with an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement.