Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's small live music spots.
Fender was awarded the cheque on 16 October as his new release the album was chosen as the best record of the past year.
Fender has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his early career.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help local stages.
Fender also participated, raising over £100k on his live tour to support thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
These funds supported locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to issues arising from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues obtained financial assistance in improving facilities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that funds from concerts in major spaces backs the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
Fender is among several artists to contribute his honor funds to charitable organizations.
In Pulp earned the trophy in the mid-90s for their release Different Class, lead singer the singer declared that the act would donate their prize money to the organization War Child.
In 2002, artist the artist split her prize among several good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the community center that supported their band, alongside other local music groups.
And 1994 winners the group contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the condition.
"Winning was quite enough," said vocalist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of local spots in south-east England, by transferring them to local control.
One venue in that area and the second in that location were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
