Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25,000 award cash to the trust for venues, which operates to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
He was presented with the award on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the best record of the past year.
He has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.
"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
Recently, major artists including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The money assisted venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.
Some locations were granted financial assistance in improving amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and fans.
"The idea that money from shows in large arenas helps the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
Fender is among several artists to donate his honor prize money to worthy causes.
When the band won the trophy in the mid-90s for their release the album, vocalist Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.
During 2002, artist the artist split her bounty among a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the youth organization that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Additionally 1994 winners they contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was ample," remarked singer Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several local spots in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in that area and the other in Bristol were bought under the community ownership program, which is backed by a national body and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.
