Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25,000 honor prize money to the trust for venues, which operates to save the UK's grassroots concert spaces.
Fender was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his new release the album was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages played in his initial steps.
"I would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the shows I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.
He also took part, raising in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to support numerous local spots across Britain.
The money helped venues that were facing possible closure due to difficulties arising from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Some locations were granted monetary aid in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and fans.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," the star has commented.
He is far from the only musician to donate his honor funds to worthy causes.
When they received the award in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, vocalist the singer announced that the act would contribute their winnings to the charity War Child.
That year, musician Ms Dynamite split her prize among a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," she told a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the local youth club that developed their band, alongside other local music groups.
Additionally the 1994 recipients M People donated their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was identified with the condition.
"The victory was sufficient," stated singer Small. "The cash was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the trust revealed it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in the city and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the venues.
