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Sam Fender has given the entirety of his £25k honor winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's small concert spaces.

He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his new release People Watching was named the best record of the previous year.

Fender has decided to donate the funds to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots played in his early career.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.

Recently, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which goes to help smaller concert halls.

Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to assist 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The money helped locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.

Other venues were granted monetary aid in modernizing amenities and gear that helped performers and fans.

"The notion that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," the star has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to contribute his award prize money to worthy causes.

When they won the trophy in the year 1996 for their release their work, vocalist Cocker stated that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.

During 2002, artist she divided her bounty across multiple charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to a publication.

Previously, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their act, alongside other independent music bodies.

And the 1994 recipients M People donated their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.

"Receiving the award was ample," stated vocalist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the cake. So our winning impacted another person's life."

Recently, the MVT revealed it had protected several local spots in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.

The first in Southampton and the second in that location were purchased under the community ownership program, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.