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The star has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the UK's grassroots live music spots.

He was given the award on 16 October as his new release People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the past year.

Fender has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role small stages played in his early career.

"As an artist couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the performances I performed around the area, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the total UK scene.

In the last year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

Sam Fender also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support 38 grassroots venues across Britain.

The donation assisted venues that were facing imminent closure due to challenges caused by water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and audiences.

"The concept that revenue from shows in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.

He is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

When they earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman Cocker stated that the band would donate their winnings to the non-profit War Child.

In 2002, rapper and singer the artist split her award between multiple good causes, like the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the community center that developed their band, in addition to other independent music bodies.

And winners that year they gave their award to a MS organization after a friend was identified with the condition.

"Winning was sufficient," stated vocalist the singer. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory affected the lives of others."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected two small stages in that region, by bringing them into local control.

The first in the city and the second in the city were acquired under the public acquisition program, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the properties.