American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, a group of four journalists and a pair of U.S. cancer researchers have each won US$1 million (euro840,000) Dan David awards, organizers said Friday.

The award, in its fifth year, goes to nominees whose achievements have made a scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on the world in three categories: Past, present and future.

Four journalists -- Magdi Allam of Italy, Monica Gonzalez of Chile, Adam Michnik of Poland and Goenawan Mohamad of Indonesia -- will share US$1 million for their achievements in the "present" category. The "future" prize was awarded to Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, and Dr. Joseph Schlessinger, a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut. They were honored for their ground-breaking research on innovative ways of treating cancer. Ma, a native of Paris, received the "past" award for his "Silk Road" project, focusing on musical and cultural traditions along the famed trade route stretching from China to the Mediterranean.

The awards are named for Israeli Dan David, a native of Romania who made his fortune inventing, patenting, developing and marketing photographic technologies, including automatic photo booths. The prizes, which were announced in Paris, are funded by a US$100 million (euro83 million) endowment administered by Tel Aviv University. Winners can use US$900,000 (euro752,697) as they please, but must give US$100,000 (euro83,633) away in grants to young researchers. The prizes will be handed out in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May.