Sentence:  Over the years , beginning in 1929 , Mason has been awarded seventeen <WSD>major</WSD> prizes including two gold medals ; two Ranger Fund purchase awards ; the Joseph Pennell Memorial Medal ; two American Watercolor Society prizes ; the Blair Purchase Prize for watercolor , Art Institute of Chicago ; and others in Buffalo , New York , Chautauqua , New Haven , Rochester , Rockport , and most recently , the $ 300 prize for a watercolor at the Laguna Beach Art Association , 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  of greater importance or stature or rank