The Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award focuses on sponsors committed to supporting art projects and cultural initiatives that incorporate young artists and are accessible to the widest possible audience. According to Jens Henning Koch, marketing vice-president of Montblanc, "With its origins in the culture of writing, one of civilization's central components, Montblanc has always valued culture and the arts as a vital part of any society that flourishes through the creation of new perspectives." For this edition of the event, the jury was formed by 44 persons from different countries that were entrusted with selecting 17 patrons, one for each country: Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, North Korea, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the US and, for the first time Bangladesh. Each winner will receive a purse of 15,000.00 euros that will go towards the organization of the art project of his/her choice. In Colombia, the award was presented to José Ignacio Roca for his contributions to the contemporary art scene, as well as for his work as director of the Fundación FLORA ars+natura centered on the development of art commissions and artistic residencies since 2013. Sam Bardaouil, co-chairman of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation, explained that the award was granted to the Colombian curator because "There is no doubt that in Colombia FLORA ars+natura has been one of the most important foundations for the development of artists, their artistic practices and new opportunities for creation. Its impact has been felt both at the national and international levels." The other winners of the 2017 edition are: Moisés Cosío-Espinosa (Mexico), Solange Farkas (Brazil), Wang Zhongjun (China), Bernar Vernet (France), the Basil a Elise Goulandris Foundation (Greece), Sylvia Chang (Hong Kong), the Fondazione Morra Greco (Italy), Takeshi Kobayashi (Japan), Ho-Jae Lee (North Korea), Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani (Bangladesh), Joseph Backstein (Russia), Soledad Lorenzo (Spain), Uli Sigg (Switzerland), John Studzinski CBE (UK) and Grant Hill (US).