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Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the United Kingdom's small music venues.

The star was awarded the award on 16 October as his third album the album was named the best record of the past year.

The musician has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his early career.

"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are struggling."

From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help independent venues.

He also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to support numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The money assisted spaces that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in modernizing amenities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and fans.

"The concept that money from concerts in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.

The musician is far from the only musician to give his award funds to worthy causes.

In Pulp received the trophy in the year 1996 for their album the album, frontman the singer declared that the group would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.

That year, artist the artist divided her prize between a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also donated a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," she told outlets.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the local youth club that supported their band, as well as other local music groups.

Also the 1994 recipients the group contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the illness.

"The victory was ample," said vocalist the singer. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."

Recently, the MVT announced it had protected a couple of small stages in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

One venue in the city and the other in that location were acquired under the public acquisition initiative, which is backed by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "shares" in the properties.