Ron Howard to receive top honour He's an Academy Award-winning director

Veteran director Ron Howard will be honoured for his long-running filmmaking career at this year's Austin Film Festival.

Howard will receive the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the annual event in October, reports express.co.uk.

In a career spanning 50 years, the star has become one of the most successful moviemakers of all time, creating mega-hits such as Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon and seeing his work pull in nine Oscars.

Howard will be on hand throughout the festival to host a series of panels for other filmmakers.

Previous recipients of the award include Oliver Stone, Sydney Pollack and Danny Boyle.