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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25k award winnings to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the Britain's independent live music spots.

He was awarded the award on mid-October as his latest record the album was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

He has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, well-known musicians including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.

He also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to support numerous grassroots venues across the UK.

These funds helped locations that were dealing with possible closure due to issues arising from water damage, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted artists and audiences.

"The idea that revenue from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to contribute his award funds to worthy causes.

In Pulp won the award in the mid-90s for their record their work, vocalist Cocker declared that the group would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.

That year, musician she shared her award across multiple good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they needed new equipment," the artist shared with a publication.

Previously, the band donated their prize money to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other independent music bodies.

Additionally winners that year M People contributed their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was identified with the condition.

"Receiving the award was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our victory affected another person's life."

In the past week, the MVT revealed it had rescued a couple of small stages in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.

The first in the city and the second in that location were acquired under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by a national body and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.