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Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 award cash to the MVT, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots music venues.

Fender was presented with the award on 16 October as his third album his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

The musician has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages had in his early career.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their ticket prices, which supports independent venues.

Fender also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.

These funds helped locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges arising from water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.

Other venues received monetary aid in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.

"The notion that revenue from performances in big venues helps the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just sensible," Fender has said.

He is not the first artist to donate his honor winnings to good deeds.

Back when the band earned the award in the year 1996 for their release their work, vocalist the singer declared that the band would contribute their winnings to the charity the charity.

In 2002, rapper and singer she shared her bounty among multiple organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also contributed a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.

Previously, they contributed their funds to the community center that nurtured their group, as well as other independent music bodies.

And winners that year the group donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was found to have the illness.

"Receiving the award was sufficient," said vocalist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory impacted the lives of others."

In the past week, the MVT announced it had rescued a couple of local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.

The first in Southampton and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the venues.