[Story updated with link to acceptance speech video]
Our congratulations to David Gilmour, who was this afternoon honoured for his Outstanding Contribution to Music at Q Magazine's 2008 Awards. On receiving the well-deserved award, he was quoted as saying: "I'm going to dedicate this to my old friend and colleague Richard Wright who died a couple of weeks ago with whom I've worked for 40 odd years".

The ceremony, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, is an annual event organised by the magazine, and this year the Outstanding Contribution award was sponsored by Gibson Guitars. David received a standing ovation as he was presented with the award, and toasted his late friend and bandmate.

"There's all sorts of music I won't be able to play without him which is a source of great sadness for me," David said. "One of the last things he wanted to do was play a big outdoor festival such as Glastonbury which we were unable to do.

 "Anyway, as I say he deserves this just as much as I do. You could say that he worked in the position of second fiddle to the pushier chaps at the front, but his work was vitally important to our entire career."

The last person to be honoured with an Outstanding Contribution award at Q's annual ceremony was Smokey Robinson in 2006. More details of this year's ceremony can be found at www.qawards.co.uk/qawards2008, and printed, illustrated coverage will of course be in an upcoming issue of the UK-based magazine. More details of that as they become available.

UPDATE: To view video footage of David's acceptance speech, click on the image to the right, or visit the Q Awards site here.