Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25,000 honor cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the UK's independent music venues.
Fender was presented with the prize on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was declared the best record of the past year.
The musician has opted to donate the funds to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his early career.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Fender also participated, generating in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous local spots across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money helped locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues caused by flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in upgrading facilities and gear that positively impacted artists and audiences.
"The concept that money from performances in big venues backs the independent spots, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," the star has said.
The musician is among several artists to contribute his honor funds to good deeds.
When the band earned the prize in 1996 for their release their work, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would donate their cash to the organization the charity.
In 2002, rapper and singer the artist split her prize across several organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist told the media.
In recent years, they gave their prize money to the youth organization that developed their band, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also 1994 winners M People contributed their award to a charity for MS after a friend was diagnosed the condition.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Recently, the trust shared it had protected a couple of small stages in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.
One venue in Southampton and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is supported by a national body and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the properties.
