Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25k honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to save the Britain's small music venues.
He was awarded the prize on mid-October as his third album the album was chosen as the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role local spots had in his beginning days.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its attempts to support the industry, by including a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also participated, raising over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 grassroots venues across Britain.
These funds supported locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties caused by floods, fires and personal losses, as well as permit problems, conflicts and noise complaints.
Some locations received funding support in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that money from concerts in big venues backs the independent spots, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," the star has said.
Fender is among several artists to give his award winnings to charitable organizations.
In Pulp earned the trophy in the mid-90s for their release the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would contribute their prize money to the non-profit the charity.
During 2002, musician the artist split her prize between several charities, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked updated gear," she told a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the local youth club that developed their band, in addition to other local music groups.
And winners that year they donated their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the condition.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT announced it had protected several small stages in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in that area and the other in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership program, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the properties.
