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The rock magazine NME has risked accusations of glorifying hard drug abuse by presenting Pete Doherty with an award for Hero of the Year.

The singer was recognised at the publication’s annual awards, which are voted for by their readers. Arctic Monkeys confirmed their standing as Britain’s most acclaimed group by taking three prizes.

Doherty, 28, cited as a “cool icon” by the NME, has undergone treatment for crack and heroin addiction over the past year. The NME suggested that its readers had recognised a genuine attempt by Doherty to conquer his demons. His band, Babyshambles, has managed to release an album and the singer is said to have advised Amy Winehouse on her drug problems. But Doherty is no Cliff Richard. He was visited by the RSPCA after reports that he had allowed kittens to inhale smoke from a crack pipe.

A newspaper published video footage which appeared to show Doherty injecting heroin weeks after he had come out of rehab. He faces jail if he does not stay clean of drugs after pleading guilty to various offences.

Violent vomiting, believed to be a side effect of Doherty’s rehab programme, has forced the singer to cut short some of his band’s gigs.

Last year Doherty was thrown out of the NME awards by bouncers. On this occasion the organisers set up a reunion between Doherty and Carl Barat, his former partner in The Libertines, who evicted the drug-addicted singer from their ranks.

After picking up two Brit awards in hunting gear, Arctic Monkeys seem at last to be developing a taste for awards ceremonies. Voted Best Group for the second time by NME readers, the quartet from Sheffield appear to have finally toppled Radiohead in the affections of indie music fans.

But the band were pipped to the best album prize by Klaxons, leading lights in the Nu-rave scene.

Myths of the Near Future, which also won the Mercury Music Prize, mixes rock and techno with a dystopian lyrical vision inspired by the avant-garde writer J.G. Ballard.

Amy Winehouse lost the Best Solo Artist award to Kate Nash, the singer-songwriter, who like Arctic Monkeys, built a following after posting her songs on the website MySpace. Winehouse was not expected to collect her only award, for Worst Dressed star. The Enemy, a punk-inspired trio from Coventry who dared to dismiss Arctic Monkeys as dull, were voted Best New Band and Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers won the Godlike Genius Award.

Award winners

British Band Arctic Monkeys

International Band The Killers

New Band The Enemy

Live Band Muse

Solo Artist Kate Nash

Album Myths Of the Near Future - Klaxons

Track Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

Video Teddy Picker - Arctic Monkeys

Hero Of The Year Pete Doherty

Philip Hall Radar Award (new act) Glasvegas

Godlike Genius Manic Street Preachers

Venue Wembley Stadium

Live Event Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds Festival

Website Facebook

Band Blog Radiohead (www.radiohead.com/deadairspace)

Music Blog The Modern Age (www.themodernage.org)

Radio Show Zane Lowe (Radio 1)

Best Dressed Noel Fielding

Worst Dressed Amy Winehouse

Best Dancefloor Filler ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ – The Wombats

Best Music DVD ‘Unplugged In New York’ - Nirvana

Villain Of The Year George W Bush

Best Album Artwork ‘The Good, The Bad & The Queen’ – The Good, The Bad & The Queen

Worst Album ‘Blackout’ - Britney Spears

Worst Band The Hoosiers

Best TV Show The Mighty Boosh

Best Film Control

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