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The artist has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 honor winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's small music venues.

He was awarded the award on mid-October as his third album People Watching was named the outstanding release of the past year.

He has decided to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

In the last year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to assist 38 grassroots venues across Britain.

These funds assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to issues stemming from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Other venues received financial assistance in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.

"The notion that funds from concerts in large arenas helps the independent spots, where it begins for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.

He is far from the only musician to contribute his award funds to worthy causes.

When they won the trophy in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the group would contribute their prize money to the non-profit the charity.

That year, rapper and singer she shared her prize among a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"And I donated a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," the artist told the media.

Previously, they donated their prize money to the community center that supported their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a friend was diagnosed the condition.

"Winning was ample," said singer the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success impacted another person's life."

Recently, the trust shared it had protected two grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into public stewardship.

The Joiners in the city and The Croft in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who acquire "shares" in the properties.