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Season 7 American Idol champ David Cook, surrounded by family members of the late Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg, holds his Triumph of The Spirit Award as Sunday’s Race for Hope in Washington, D.C.

Congrats go out to David Cook this week for a prestigious award and his dedication to a cause.

David received the Rabbi Joseph P. Weinberg Triumph of the Spirit Award from the Race for Hope in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

David’s been involved in the Race of Hope for 10 years, helping raise more than $1.3 million for the organization during that time.

This year, his team was the third biggest donor to the event, raising more than $78,000 of the event’s $1.7 in total donations.

For those who aren’t aware, the event raises money for brain tumor research. David’s brother Adam died of brain cancer in 2009.

And in David’s case, the award is in recognition of more than just the money he’s helped raised.

He learned of his brother’s death just before the 2009 Race of Hope, yet participated anyway.

This year, his run as Charlie Price in the Broadway show Kinky Boots ended Saturday night. Yet he traveled from New York to D.C. to be part of the Sunday morning fund-raiser.

The Triumph of the Spirit Award is named in honor of Joseph P. Weinberg, who was the senior rabbi at the Washington Hebrew Congregation before dying of a brain tumor in 1999.

In accepting the award, David acknowledged his first year with the event was “heavy.”

“I kept coming back partly as a cathartic experience for me and my family and to honor my brother,” he says in a video you can watch on his website. “But every year I get so inspired just by everybody here — the survivors, the families, the friends.”

He also thanked the members of Team David Cook with the Race for Hope, noting “I get all the credit, but honest to God, I don’t get to do any of this without you.

“I cannot wait until the day we come here and celebrate because there’s a cure. Until then, we keep fighting and we keep loving each other.”