Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the UK's small music venues.
He was given the cheque on 16 October as his third album the album was named the top album of the past year.
Fender has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages fulfilled in his early career.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.
Fender also took part, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues caused by floods, fires and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in improving amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and concertgoers.
"The idea that revenue from performances in big venues backs the independent spots, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his honor winnings to good deeds.
Back when they received the prize in 1996 for their release the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would contribute their prize money to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician the artist split her award across several good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," the artist told a publication.
In recent years, they donated their prize money to the youth organization that nurtured their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
Also the 1994 recipients M People donated their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.
"Receiving the award was ample," said singer Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under public stewardship.
The first in that area and The Croft in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who buy "stakes" in the venues.
