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The artist has handed over the entirety of his £25k award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the Britain's small concert spaces.

The star was presented with the award on mid-October as his third album the album was named the best record of the previous year.

Fender has opted to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the crucial part small stages fulfilled in his initial steps.

"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the performances I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, major artists like the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help local stages.

Fender also participated, collecting over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support 38 small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The donation supported locations that were facing imminent closure due to issues arising from flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in improving infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and audiences.

"The concept that revenue from concerts in large arenas helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.

He is not the first artist to contribute his award winnings to good deeds.

When they received the prize in 1996 for their record Different Class, vocalist Cocker announced that the act would give their prize money to the non-profit the charity.

That year, rapper and singer the artist divided her bounty among a few organizations, such as the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I donated a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.

In recent years, Ezra Collective gave their funds to the local youth club that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Also the 1994 recipients M People donated their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.

"Receiving the award was quite enough," said artist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top 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 shared it had protected two small stages in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.

The Joiners in that area and the second in the city were acquired under the community ownership scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and music fans who acquire "shares" in the buildings.