Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25k honor cash to the MVT, which works to preserve the UK's independent concert spaces.
The star was awarded the prize on mid-October as his third album his work was declared the top album of the last 12 months.
He has decided to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function small stages had in his early career.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.
He also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to assist numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The money assisted locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties caused by floods, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that funds from performances in big venues backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
When Pulp won the award in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would contribute their winnings to the charity War Child.
That year, artist the artist shared her bounty among multiple organizations, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"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 explained to outlets.
In recent years, the band contributed their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And winners that year M People contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was quite enough," stated artist Heather Small. "The money was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had protected two grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in the city and the second in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by a national body and supporters who acquire "shares" in the properties.
