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Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award prize money to the MVT, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.

Fender was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his new release the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the crucial part local spots fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have shut down – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by adding a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

He also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 small stages across the UK.

These funds supported spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges arising from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

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

"The concept that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," the star has said.

Fender is among several artists to contribute his award funds to charitable organizations.

When they earned the trophy in 1996 for their album Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the band would give their prize money to the charity War Child.

That year, musician Ms Dynamite shared her prize across a few charities, including the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told the media.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the community center that developed their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally winners that year the group contributed their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.

"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our success impacted somebody else's life."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had rescued two small stages in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

The Joiners in Southampton and the other in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "shares" in the buildings.