Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25k honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to save the Britain's small live music spots.
He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his third album People Watching was chosen as the best record of the past year.
He has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I did around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his live tour to support thirty-eight small stages across Britain.
These funds assisted venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues stemming from flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues obtained financial assistance in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The idea that money from concerts in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his award funds to good deeds.
In Pulp earned the prize in 1996 for their album Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the act would give their winnings to the non-profit the charity.
That year, musician the artist split her bounty among a few organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," she shared with a publication.
In recent years, the band contributed their winnings to the local youth club that supported their group, alongside other independent music bodies.
And the 1994 recipients the group donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Winning was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success impacted the lives of others."
In the past week, the MVT shared it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by transferring them to local control.
The Joiners in the city and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by a national body and enthusiasts who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.
