Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the United Kingdom's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was presented with the prize on mid-October as his third album People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its attempts to support the industry, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to issues arising from flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from performances in large arenas supports the local stages, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," the star has said.
The musician is among several artists to donate his award winnings to charitable organizations.
When they received the prize in the year 1996 for their release their work, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her prize among multiple organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," she told the media.
In recent years, they gave their winnings to the community center that nurtured their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And the 1994 recipients they gave their award to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," said singer the singer. "The prize was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted the lives of others."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in Southampton and The Croft in the city were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "shares" in the venues.
