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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 independent concert spaces.

Fender was presented with the prize on 16 October as his new release his work was declared the best record of the past year.

Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately 16 percent of the total UK scene.

Recently, major artists such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which supports local stages.

Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across the UK.

The donation supported locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to difficulties caused by floods, fires and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces received funding support in upgrading facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.

"The notion that revenue from concerts in major spaces helps the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.

He is not the first artist to give his honor prize money to charitable organizations.

In they won the trophy in the year 1996 for their release their work, vocalist the singer stated that the band would donate their prize money to the non-profit War Child.

During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her award among a few good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.

In recent years, they gave their winnings to the community center that developed their band, as well as other local music groups.

Also the 1994 recipients they donated their prize to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.

"Winning was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted the lives of others."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had saved several small stages in that region, by placing them under community ownership.

The first in that area and the other in the city were purchased under the public acquisition program, which is backed by Arts Council England and music fans who buy "stakes" in the buildings.