Visual artist and sculptor Ron Noganosh and publishing house Coach House Books received the 2008 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts tonight. 

Noganosh received the award for individual artist. He will receive $35,000, and will be asked to identify an emerging artist of the year, who will receive $15,000. Noganosh is best known for using junk material such as beer caps, auto parts and old toys to create imaginative, humorous and thought-provoking art works.

Coach House Books will be awarded $50,000 as the winner in the Arts Organization category. One of Canada's foremost small presses, Coach House is one of only three Canadian publishers to print its books in-house. The press has nurtured the careers of some of Canada's best-known writers, including Michael Ondaatje, bpNichol, Nicole Brossard, Christian Bök, Jonathan Goldstein, Linda Griffiths, Anne Michaels, Michael Redhill and hundreds of others.

Ontario's entertainment and creative cluster is a cornerstone of Ontario's new innovative economy. It employs over 250,000 people - the third largest number in North America after California and New York - and generates $19.7 billion of Ontario's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).