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Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the UK's grassroots live music spots.

Fender was given the award on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the best record of the previous year.

The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role small stages had in his initial steps.

"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.

He also participated, generating over £100k on his live tour to support 38 local spots across the UK.

These funds supported locations that were facing imminent closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.

Other venues were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and gear that positively impacted musicians and audiences.

"The idea that money from performances in large arenas helps the smaller venues, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to donate his award prize money to charitable organizations.

In the band won the prize in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, vocalist Cocker stated that the group would donate their cash to the charity the charity.

In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite shared her bounty across multiple charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist told a publication.

Previously, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

And winners that year they donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.

"Winning was sufficient," said artist the singer. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted another person's life."

Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in the city and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by a national body and supporters who buy "shares" in the buildings.