Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to save the UK's grassroots live music spots.
He was given the cheque on mid-October as his latest record the album was declared the top album of the previous year.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages had in his initial steps.
"As an artist would not have achieved my current career if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.
Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his recent tour to help thirty-eight small stages across the UK.
The donation helped spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges arising from floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Some locations received funding support in improving facilities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted musicians and audiences.
"The idea that money from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.
He is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
In they earned the prize in the year 1996 for their release their work, lead singer Cocker announced that the band would give their prize money to the charity War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her award across several charities, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told the media.
In recent years, the band contributed their winnings to the community center that supported their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
Also 1994 winners the group contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was identified with the condition.
"Winning was quite enough," said artist Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted somebody else's life."
In the past week, the MVT announced it had protected two local spots in the South East, by placing them under community ownership.
One venue in Southampton and the second in that location were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.
