U2 receiving Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' soundtrack song 'Ordinary Love'

The 2014 Palm Springs Film Festival runs from January 3 to 13, and this year one of the festival's most prestigious awards is going to Irish rock group U2. For there new song featured on the Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom soundtrack, "Ordinary Love," the group will be awarded the Sonny Bono Visionary Award. Named after the singer-turned-politician that started this festival, this award is usually given to filmmakers, but "Ordinary Love" is already on a nomination streak (Golden Globe, Critics' Choice and maybe an Oscar) so this award pretty much makes sense.

"We normally present the Sonny Bono Visionary Award to a director, but for our 25th anniversary we wanted to take the occasion to celebrate U2, a visionary group and the world's premier rock band, for their unparalleled humanitarian work against extreme poverty, disease, and social injustice," Palm Springs Film Festival chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement this week. "Their latest song 'Ordinary Love' from the film Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom is an ode to Nelson Mandela, who had such a powerful impact on our world, and a man whom the band worked with in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa."

This award will be presented on January 4, 2014, at the Palm Springs Convention Center and U2 members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. are expected to accept the award in-person.

Mstars previously reported on U2's song, "Ordinary Love." Click here to read more about this new track and find out more about the making of this award-winning song.