Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots concert spaces.
He was given the award on October 16 as his new release the album was chosen as the top album of the past year.
He has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role small stages played in his early career.
"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have ceased operations – roughly 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians including the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
He also participated, raising over £100k on his recent tour to help numerous local spots across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in improving infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The notion that funds from shows in major spaces helps the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to give his award winnings to worthy causes.
When Pulp received the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer declared that the group would give their prize money to the organization War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her bounty across multiple charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I donated a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," she shared with a publication.
Previously, they donated their prize money to the local youth club that nurtured their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year the group donated their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was sufficient," stated vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our success affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship.
One venue in that area and the second in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the venues.
