Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25k honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's independent music venues.
The star was awarded the prize on October 16 as his new release his work was named the best record of the previous year.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.
"I would not have achieved what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about 16% of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his recent tour to support 38 local spots across the UK.
These funds supported locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Other venues obtained monetary aid in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and audiences.
"The concept that revenue from shows in major spaces helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to give his honor prize money to good deeds.
Back when they received the award in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.
That year, artist the artist shared her award across several charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked updated gear," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their winnings to the community center that nurtured their group, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Also winners that year M People contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was ample," remarked vocalist Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the trust revealed it had saved a couple of local spots in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The first in that area and The Croft in the city were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the buildings.
