Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25k honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
He was given the prize on 16 October as his third album People Watching was named the best record of the previous year.
The musician has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the vital role small stages fulfilled in his early career.
"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports smaller concert halls.
Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
These funds assisted spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Some locations were granted financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that funds from performances in major spaces helps the local stages, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his honor winnings to charitable organizations.
In the band received the award in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman Cocker announced that the band would contribute their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist divided her bounty between several good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also donated a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," she explained to the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the community center that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group donated their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated vocalist Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust announced it had protected several small stages in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
One venue in that area and the second in that location were purchased under the public acquisition initiative, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who acquire "stakes" in the properties.
