Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was given the prize on mid-October as his latest record his work was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I did around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.
These funds assisted venues that were confronting possible closure due to issues stemming from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in large arenas backs the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to contribute his award winnings to worthy causes.
When they earned the prize in the mid-90s for their album the album, lead singer Cocker announced that the act would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, musician she split her bounty across several charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
In recent years, they gave their funds to the youth organization that supported their group, alongside other local music groups.
Additionally the 1994 recipients they donated their award to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in the city and the other in the city were bought under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
