Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the Britain's grassroots live music spots.
He was presented with the award on 16 October as his third album People Watching was named the best record of the previous year.
Fender has opted to hand the money over to the trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots had in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, top acts such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.
He also joined in, generating over £100k on his recent tour to support thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to difficulties caused by flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.
Additional spaces received funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and audiences.
"The notion that money from concerts in major spaces helps the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
He is not the first artist to give his honor winnings to good deeds.
In the band won the award in 1996 for their album the album, frontman Cocker declared that the band would donate their cash to the charity the charity.
In 2002, musician Ms Dynamite shared her prize between several good causes, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they needed updated gear," she explained to a publication.
Two years ago, the band gave their prize money to the local youth club that developed their group, alongside other local music groups.
Additionally 1994 winners they donated their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," stated vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the honor. So our success touched another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in that location were bought under the community ownership initiative, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.
