Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k award prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the UK's independent concert spaces.
Fender was awarded the prize on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was named the top album of the last 12 months.
He has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in appreciation of the vital role grassroots venues played in his early career.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the performances I did around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted venues that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties caused by water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and fans.
"The idea that money from concerts in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has said.
Fender is not the first artist to give his honor prize money to charitable organizations.
In they won the trophy in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would contribute their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
That year, artist the artist split her prize across several good causes, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.
Two years ago, the band donated their prize money to the local youth club that nurtured their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.
"Winning was ample," said vocalist Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our success touched another person's life."
In the past week, the trust shared it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by transferring them to community ownership.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in that location were bought under the community ownership program, which is funded by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who acquire "shares" in the properties.
