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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.

He was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the best record of the past year.

Fender has opted to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," stated Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, top acts such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports independent venues.

He also took part, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous small stages across Britain.

These funds helped spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.

Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in upgrading infrastructure and gear that positively impacted performers and concertgoers.

"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.

The musician is not the first artist to donate his award winnings to charitable organizations.

Back when the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their album their work, vocalist Cocker stated that the group would give their prize money to the organization War Child.

In 2002, musician the artist divided her prize across several charities, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite told outlets.

Previously, the band gave their winnings to the community center that supported their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Also the 1994 recipients the group contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a friend was found to have the disease.

"Winning was sufficient," said singer Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning affected the lives of others."

Recently, the trust shared it had saved several small stages in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship.

One venue in that area and The Croft in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the properties.