Rapper 50 Cent, singer Annie Lennox and rock band Green Day have won the major awards at a ceremony where US songwriters honor their peers.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) voted 50 Cent songwriter of the year.

Lennox collected the Founders Award for her "inspirational" work as a solo artist and with The Eurythmics, one of the biggest groups of the 1980s.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day was one of the songs of the year.
It shared the honor with Mariah Carey's We Belong Together, written by Johnta Austin, Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal.

Green Day also won another prize at the ceremony in Los Angeles - ASCAP's creative voice award.

Lennox joins Sir Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Tom Waits as a recipient of the Founders Award.
It is awarded to songwriters who have made exceptional contributions to music and who have influenced their peers.
"Annie Lennox is one of the finest musical voices of our time - unlike any other, uncompromising and unpredictable," ASCAP president Marilyn Bergman said.