Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the MVT, which functions to save the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
He was presented with the award on October 16 as his third album his work was chosen as the top album of the past year.
He has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.
"As an artist would not have achieved what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 small stages across Britain.
The money helped spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and gear that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that money from concerts in major spaces helps the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
Fender is not the first artist to contribute his award funds to worthy causes.
Back when the band won the prize in the mid-90s for their record the album, vocalist Cocker stated that the band would contribute their prize money to the non-profit War Child.
During 2002, artist the artist split her prize between a few charities, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.
Previously, they contributed their funds to the local youth club that nurtured their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Also the 1994 recipients M People gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the MVT revealed it had rescued two small stages in the South East, by transferring them to community ownership.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in that location were purchased under the community ownership program, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the properties.