Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 award prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the Britain's independent concert spaces.
He was presented with the prize on 16 October as his new release the album was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the crucial part small stages had in his early career.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its attempts to support the industry, by adding a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.
These funds helped locations that were confronting imminent closure due to issues caused by flooding, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as permit problems, conflicts and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from concerts in major spaces backs the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to contribute his honor prize money to charitable organizations.
In Pulp won the trophy in 1996 for their release the album, frontman the singer declared that the band would contribute their prize money to the organization the charity.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite divided her award between several organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked updated gear," she shared with the media.
In recent years, they gave their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also 1994 winners M People contributed their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," stated vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our success touched another person's life."
Last week, the MVT revealed it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by transferring them to community ownership.
One venue in Southampton and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by a national body and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.
