Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25k honor prize money to the trust for venues, which works to protect the United Kingdom's small music venues.
He was presented with the award on mid-October as his new release People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
He has chosen to donate the funds to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally would not have achieved my current career if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Recently, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by adding a small levy to their ticket prices, which supports smaller concert halls.
He also took part, raising over £100k on his live tour to assist 38 local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money supported spaces that were facing imminent closure due to issues caused by floods, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces obtained funding support in improving amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and fans.
"The idea that revenue from concerts in large arenas helps the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
He is not the first artist to donate his honor winnings to charitable organizations.
When the band received the trophy in 1996 for their release their work, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would give their winnings to the charity War Child.
In 2002, musician the artist shared her bounty between a few organizations, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," the artist shared with outlets.
Previously, the band gave their winnings to the community center that nurtured their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group gave their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated singer the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT announced it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.
The Joiners in Southampton and the second in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the venues.
