Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the UK's independent live music spots.
The star was awarded the prize on October 16 as his third album People Watching was named the best record of the last 12 months.
He has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function local spots played in his beginning days.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the performances I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Fender also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges stemming from floods, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from performances in big venues backs the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.
In Pulp received the award in 1996 for their album the album, vocalist the singer declared that the band would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite divided her prize among several good causes, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," the artist shared with the media.
Previously, the band gave their funds to the community center that developed their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners they gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked artist Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved two grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in the city and The Croft in the city were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who purchase "shares" in the properties.
