Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25k award prize money to the MVT, which operates to protect the UK's independent concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his new release his work was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
He has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function local spots fulfilled in his early career.
"I would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help independent venues.
He also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to support numerous local spots across the UK.
The money assisted spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to challenges arising from water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Some locations received funding support in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from concerts in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to contribute his award funds to charitable organizations.
In Pulp received the prize in 1996 for their album the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the act would contribute their prize money to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, artist she divided her bounty across several good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to a publication.
In recent years, the band contributed their prize money to the local youth club that developed their group, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also 1994 winners M People gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the condition.
"The victory was quite enough," said artist Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our success impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under community ownership.
The first in the city and the other in the city were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who buy "stakes" in the venues.
