Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 award winnings to the trust for venues, which works to save the UK's independent music venues.
Fender was presented with the prize on 16 October as his third album People Watching was named the top album of the previous year.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots played in his early career.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately 16% of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, major artists like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
He also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across the UK.
The money supported spaces that were facing imminent closure due to difficulties caused by water damage, fires and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.
Other venues were granted funding support in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and fans.
"The concept that revenue from shows in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
The musician is among several artists to contribute his award winnings to worthy causes.
When the band earned the prize in the year 1996 for their record the album, vocalist the singer declared that the act would give their cash to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician she shared her bounty across a few good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," she explained to a publication.
In recent years, the band contributed their prize money to the youth organization that developed their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners they gave their award to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the condition.
"The victory was ample," stated artist Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our success affected another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued several small stages in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in the city and the other in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "shares" in the buildings.
