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The artist has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.

The star was given the award on mid-October as his third album People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.

Fender has opted to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots played in his initial steps.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.

Recently, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

These funds supported locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to difficulties caused by flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces received financial assistance in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that helped artists and concertgoers.

"The idea that funds from concerts in big venues helps the independent spots, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.

He is far from the only musician to give his honor prize money to worthy causes.

When the band received the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer stated that the act would give their winnings to the organization War Child.

That year, musician the artist shared her award across several good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they required updated gear," the artist told a publication.

In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the youth organization that developed their act, alongside other local music groups.

Also 1994 winners M People contributed their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.

"The victory was ample," said artist the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our success impacted another person's life."

Recently, the MVT revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

One venue in Southampton and the other in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by a national body and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.