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The artist has given the entirety of his £25k honor cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.

Fender was given the cheque on 16 October as his third album his work was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.

He has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots played in his beginning days.

"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are struggling."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, major artists like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.

He also took part, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.

The money assisted spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and concertgoers.

"The idea that revenue from shows in big venues helps the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.

He is far from the only musician to give his honor prize money to good deeds.

In Pulp won the award in the mid-90s for their release their work, frontman Cocker announced that the act would contribute their cash to the organization War Child.

During 2002, rapper and singer she divided her prize among several charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told a publication.

In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.

And the 1994 recipients M People contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," stated singer the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the honor. So our success affected somebody else's life."

Last week, the MVT revealed it had protected two grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in Southampton and The Croft in Bristol were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by a national body and supporters who acquire "shares" in the venues.