Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the UK's small music venues.
Fender was awarded the prize on mid-October as his new release his work was declared the outstanding release of the past year.
Fender has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.
"As an artist would not have achieved my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money helped venues that were facing possible closure due to challenges arising from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped performers and audiences.
"The notion that funds from concerts in major spaces supports the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his honor prize money to good deeds.
When Pulp received the prize in the year 1996 for their record their work, frontman the singer stated that the band would give their cash to the organization War Child.
In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite divided her award among a few good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
In recent years, the band donated their winnings to the youth organization that supported their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was identified with the disease.
"Receiving the award was ample," remarked artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our success affected another person's life."
Last week, the MVT announced it had rescued several local spots in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the properties.
