POTTERIES entertainer Jonathan Wilkes received a standing ovation when he was presented with The Editor's Special Award.

The 31-year-old, who was born in Baddeley Green, was last night described as "the man who grounded my career" by last year's Stoke's Top Talent winner Dan Hewitt.

The Sentinel's assistant editor Martin Tideswell said: "No-one has done more in recent years to nurture talent and promote entertainment within the Potteries than Jonny."

Jonny is currently gearing up to head the cast at the Regent Theatre for this year's Christmas panto.

And he told the audience he was "thrilled" to receive the award, which he had known nothing about until that point in the evening.

He said: "We might not live in the wealthiest or most beautiful city in the world, but we have got the biggest heart.

"I am so proud to come from Stoke-on-Trent and everyone in this room tonight is an inspiration.

"I feel fantastic to have been given this special award, but I feel very small compared to all those people who have done such wonderful things that we have heard about.

"It really has been an amazing year again and everybody should feel incredibly proud of themselves."

The winner of the Britannia Award for 2009 was Robbie Williams's charity Give it Sum.

Robbie's mum Jan received the award on behalf of her pop superstar son.

The charity was set up in June 2000 with the help of Comic Relief.

It has since helped more than 420 projects across North Staffordshire.

And Jan said: "It's a hand up, rather than a hand-out.

"Rob is proud of the people in North Staffordshire and wanted to do something which would help make a difference to their lives.

"It's about the community working together to achieve something positive.

"Rob has no idea of this award, but I know he will be over the moon.

"I've been involved with Rob's charity and it's been a great privilege to work with communities across North Staffordshire.

"It is rewarding and I will feed back to Rob on things we have done and he will say 'that's great mum'. I'm really delighted to receive this award on his behalf.

"It's been a real honour to be here and listen to stories from people who have shown great strength, courage and determination.

"It's important we recognise these achievements."