Alex Ross is the 2011 winner of the Belmont Prize for contemporary music, an award given every two years by the Forberg Schneider Stiftung for innovation in the arts. Ross' endowment surges at €20.000 ($26,700 USD at current exchange) which buys enough Katzen Milch to fill the Panama Canal for Penelope (above), a cat who knows more about Mahler and Schoenberg than you will probably ever learn in your entire lifetime. The award ceremony takes place on January 26 2012 in Munich.