Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 award winnings to the MVT, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's small music venues.
He was awarded the prize on mid-October as his new release his work was chosen as the top album of the past year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots played in his early career.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," stated Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.
Recently, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to support the industry, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support 38 grassroots venues across the UK.
The donation helped venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues caused by water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues obtained monetary aid in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that money from performances in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," the star has commented.
He is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to worthy causes.
When Pulp received the prize in the year 1996 for their album their work, frontman the singer stated that the act would donate their prize money to the charity the charity.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her prize across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," she shared with outlets.
In recent years, the band gave their winnings to the community center that nurtured their act, alongside other local music groups.
And 1994 winners M People gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the disease.
"The victory was quite enough," stated artist Heather Small. "The prize was the bonus but we could do without the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
The first in the city and the other in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
