Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the UK's grassroots live music spots.
He was awarded the award on 16 October as his new release People Watching was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was beginning," remarked Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, raising over £100k on his live tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The donation assisted spaces that were confronting possible closure due to issues arising from water damage, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.
Additional spaces received financial assistance in modernizing amenities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and fans.
"The notion that funds from performances in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.
He is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
Back when the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman the singer declared that the band would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
During 2002, artist Ms Dynamite divided her prize between several good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," she shared with the media.
Two years ago, the band donated their funds to the community center that nurtured their band, as well as other local music groups.
Additionally winners that year they donated their award to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the disease.
"The victory was sufficient," said vocalist the singer. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the bonus, because we had the cake. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Recently, the trust announced it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and the other in the city were purchased under the community ownership scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
