Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 honor cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the Britain's grassroots music venues.
He was awarded the prize on mid-October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the top album of the last 12 months.
He has decided to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.
Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
He also joined in, collecting over £100k on his live tour to assist numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds supported locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and gear that helped performers and audiences.
"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.
He is far from the only musician to give his honor winnings to good deeds.
When Pulp received the award in 1996 for their album their work, lead singer Cocker declared that the band would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, musician she divided her bounty among several organizations, such as the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I donated a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," she explained to the media.
Previously, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the community center that developed their band, as well as other local music groups.
Also winners that year the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was sufficient," remarked singer Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of small stages in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The Joiners in Southampton and the other in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.
