Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 honor cash to the MVT, which operates to preserve the Britain's independent music venues.
The star was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his third album People Watching was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
He has opted to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function local spots had in his early career.
"I wouldn't be doing this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports independent venues.
Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were facing possible closure due to difficulties stemming from flooding, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received funding support in upgrading amenities and gear that helped artists and audiences.
"The idea that funds from shows in big venues helps the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.
The musician is among several artists to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.
When they earned the prize in the mid-90s for their record their work, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would contribute their cash to the organization War Child.
In 2002, musician she shared her bounty across a few charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked updated gear," she told the media.
In recent years, they gave their winnings to the local youth club that developed their group, as well as other local music groups.
Also 1994 winners M People donated their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the condition.
"The victory was quite enough," remarked vocalist the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had rescued a couple of local spots in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in the city and the second in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the properties.
