With the official 2008 Polar Music Award ceremony being held in Stockholm yesterday, Roger Waters and Nick Mason have been seen all over the Swedish media. Pink Floyd were joint winners of this year's award for their contribution to popular music, alongside American soprano Renee Fleming. Roger and Nick were there to receive the award, and said that David Gilmour and Richard Wright were sorry they could not attend.

Our friend Alexander Ahlstrand has been beavering away as our media correspondent in Sweden, and with thanks to him we have details of a number of video clips, news reports, and pictures from the event for your enjoyment. First off though, if any of our Swedish visitors missed the broadcast yesterday on TV4 television, they will be broadcasting highlights of the event tonight at 10.45pm.

During the ceremony, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt gave his own tribute to the band, saying that their work was "a monumental contribution, and captured the mood and spirit of a whole generation in their reflections and attitudes." He even broke into an impromptu 'Another Brick In The Wall', to which Roger Waters looked a little nonplussed and uncomfortable with! You can view this unusual performance through the links below.

On receiving the award, Roger dedicated the award to his 96-year-old mother: "If there is any humanity and empathy in my work, which I think there is, I would rather owe it to her."

At the press conference the day before, Roger noted that the prize - one of just a few such honours the band have won over the years was "very important to me. We seem to be a bit thin on prizes."

Nick added: "It's not that I feel we need or deserve an award. But it makes you feel like you are a part of history."

Nick said that the prize money - one million Kroner, or US$157,000 - would be shared between all the band, and donated to their chosen charities.

VIDEO FOOTAGE:

• www.Aftonbladet.se are streaming a 1 minute, 20 second video piece on the press conference with Roger and Nick interviewed about the band.
• www.nyhetskanalen.se have a 34 second clip showing Roger and Nick receiving the award, followed by Reinfeldt serenading the audience with Another Brick!

• www.SR.se have a two minute interview with Roger

• www.sydsvenskan.se have an interview with Roger and Nick at the press conference the day before
• www.SVT.se have a sequence of nine pictures from the ceremony
• www.Metro.se have a report about the event
• www.DN.se have a report about the event
• www.hellomagazine.com have a couple of nice, unusual pictures from the event, including Roger signing a guitar for the crowd waiting outside
  

Finally, our friend Mikael Eriksson, who runs PinkFloydSweden.com, was at the event and his album of pictures can be viewed here. There's a nice selection of shots from throughout the ceremony, and indeed, as people were leaving the venue.