But in recent years the US has begun to recognise the work of the Monuments Men.
The Press Awards recognise the work of the UK's national newspapers in print and online.
Few outside the Nordic world would recognise the work of this Finnish artist who died in 1946.
But even art historians would be hard pressed to recognise the work of Simon Bening an artist who created scenes of peasant life 20 years before Breughel.
The award will recognise the work of an outstanding young journalist at the start of their career working on human rights stories.
The Archive Gala strand of the BFI London film festival was conceived for just such a purpose: to give the floor to some forgotten figures from our cinematic history, while recognising the work of the BFI restoration team.
In 2007, the US Senate passed a resolution recognising the work of the officers of the MFAA, and last month their importance – and the looming film – led to the award of a Congressional gold medal.
It was reported over the weekend that the Man Booker prize will open up to US authors as of 2014, after 45 years of recognising the work of writers from UK, Ireland and Commonwealth countries.
When he came to see the computer tortoises in 1951 – they responded to light and scuttled back home when the bulb was switched on in their hutches – he also managed to break a game playing computer by recognising the work of a protege and cracking the algorithm on the spot: the computer flashed both "you've won" and "you've lost" messages at him, and then shut itself down in a sulk.
But I want to finish this column by recognising the work of Sean Lamont.
