Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the Britain's grassroots music venues.
He was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his third album the album was declared the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – roughly 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
He also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted locations that were facing potential shutdown due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations received funding support in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that revenue from performances in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it all starts for artists like me, is just sensible," the star has said.
Fender is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to good deeds.
When the band received the prize in the mid-90s for their release Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the group would donate their winnings to the organization the charity.
That year, artist she shared her prize between multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," she told outlets.
In recent years, the band contributed their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was identified with the illness.
"Winning was ample," said artist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched the lives of others."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued several small stages in the South East, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in that area and the other in Bristol were bought under the public acquisition program, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "stakes" in the venues.
