Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 award winnings to the trust for venues, which operates to protect the Britain's small music venues.
He was presented with the cheque on October 16 as his latest record his work was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues had in his early career.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Fender also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist 38 small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped venues that were facing imminent closure due to challenges stemming from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from performances in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
He is not the first artist to donate his award prize money to charitable organizations.
Back when Pulp won the award in the mid-90s for their release the album, lead singer Cocker announced that the band would donate their winnings to the charity the charity.
That year, artist she divided her award among several organizations, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
Previously, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the community center that supported their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients the group contributed their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was identified with the condition.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," said artist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted the lives of others."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had rescued several local spots in south-east England, by placing them under public stewardship.
The Joiners in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.
