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The star has donated the full amount of his £25,000 award prize money to the MVT, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.

He was given the award on October 16 as his new release the album was chosen as the top album of the past year.

The musician has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part local spots fulfilled in his beginning days.

"As an artist couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I played around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.

Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his recent tour to support numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The donation supported venues that were facing imminent closure due to challenges stemming from water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.

Additional spaces received financial assistance in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.

"The concept that funds from concerts in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has stated.

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

In Pulp earned the prize in 1996 for their album the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would give their prize money to the non-profit War Child.

In 2002, rapper and singer the artist split her award between a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I contributed a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," she shared with a publication.

In recent years, they contributed their prize money to the community center that developed their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally 1994 winners they contributed their prize to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the condition.

"Winning was ample," remarked artist Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our success affected another person's life."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to community ownership.

The first in Southampton and the second in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.