MIAMI, FL.-The Board of Directors of the Cintas Foundation has announced Glexis Novoa as the winner of the 2006 Cintas Foundation Emilio Sánchez Award in Visual Arts and Anthony Goicolea as the winner of the 2006 Cintas Foundation Fellowship in Visual Arts. Ann Koll, executive director and curator of the Emilio Sánchez Foundation was on hand at a ceremony in Miami to present the 2006 Cintas Foundation Emilio Sanchez Award in Visual Arts.

“We congratulate Glexis and Anthony on being selected and wish each one continued success,” said Cintas Foundation President Hortensia E. Sampedro. “And we express our sincere appreciation to this year’s jury for their work with a very competitive field of applicants.”

The 2006 jury for this prestigious award included Roni Feinstein, corresponding editor for “Art in America”; Cheryl Hartup, chief curator at the Museo de Arte de Ponce; Dr. Juan Martínez, professor and chair of the art history department at Florida International University, and Olga Viso, director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D. C.

The awards were established with funds from the estate of the late Oscar B. Cintas (b. Sagua La Grande, Cuba, 1887 – d. New York City, 1957), a prominent Cuban industrialist and patron of the arts. Since 1963, the Cintas Foundation has awarded more than 300 fellowships to artists of Cuban lineage who reside outside of Cuba.

The award has been granted to many artists who have gone on to play an influential role in the development of their disciplines. Past recipients include Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos; painter José Bedia; the late Félix González-Torres, who will represent the United States at the next Venice Biennale; architect and city planner Andrés Martín Duany; installation artist Teresita Fernández; writer Cristina García; sculptor María Elena Gonzales, and composer Orlando García, among many others. The award carries a $15,000 cash prize, which is used by the winner to further his or her creative development as described in their application.

The Selection Program is administered by the Cintas Foundation Board (www.cintasfoundation.org) and the Cintas Fellows Program at The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University (www.frostartmuseum.org). The headquarters for the Cintas Foundation are at Dewey Ballantine, LLP, Suite 3900, 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019-6092.