Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound honor cash to the MVT, which operates to preserve the UK's grassroots music venues.
The star was presented with the award on October 16 as his third album the album was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the performances I performed around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have shut down – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists including the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help numerous grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds helped spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fires and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and sound issues.
Some locations were granted monetary aid in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and audiences.
"The notion that funds from concerts in big venues backs the local stages, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
Back when the band won the prize in 1996 for their album their work, vocalist the singer declared that the band would donate their prize money to the charity War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist split her prize among several good causes, like the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," she shared with a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the community center that supported their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally 1994 winners the group contributed their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was identified with the condition.
"Winning was sufficient," stated singer Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our success impacted another person's life."
Last week, the trust announced it had protected two small stages in the South East, by transferring them to local control.
The first in that area and The Croft in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is supported by a national body and supporters who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.
