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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the Britain's small concert spaces.

The star was awarded the award on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the best record of the previous year.

He has decided to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues had in his early career.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.

Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports local stages.

Sam Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his recent tour to help numerous grassroots venues across Britain.

These funds supported spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.

Other venues obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.

"The idea that funds from performances in large arenas backs the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.

Fender is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to worthy causes.

In the band received the award in 1996 for their record their work, lead singer Cocker announced that the group would contribute their winnings to the organization the charity.

In 2002, musician she split her prize between several organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also contributed a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to the media.

In recent years, they gave their prize money to the community center that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally winners that year M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.

"The victory was sufficient," said artist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory affected somebody else's life."

Recently, the trust revealed it had protected a couple of local spots in that region, by transferring them to local control.

The Joiners in that area and The Croft in the city were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "shares" in the properties.