Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to save the UK's grassroots music venues.
The star was presented with the prize on mid-October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the best record of the previous year.
He has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots played in his beginning days.
"I personally would not have achieved my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was just getting going," remarked the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 grassroots venues across Britain.
The money assisted spaces that were facing imminent closure due to challenges arising from flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues obtained funding support in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that money from performances in major spaces backs the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has said.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his honor prize money to good deeds.
When they won the award in the mid-90s for their record the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would give their cash to the organization the charity.
That year, rapper and singer she split her award among several charities, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite told a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the local youth club that developed their band, in addition to other local music groups.
Also 1994 winners the group contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.
"The victory was ample," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted another person's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had saved several local spots in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The first in that area and the second in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who buy "shares" in the buildings.
