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Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25,000 award cash to the MVT, which operates to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.

Fender was given the cheque on 16 October as his new release the album was declared the best record of the past year.

The musician has opted to give the cash to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his initial steps.

"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," said the artist. "These locations are renowned, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

In the last year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.

Fender also took part, collecting more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous small stages across Britain.

These funds supported locations that were facing possible closure due to issues caused by flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in upgrading amenities and gear that positively impacted musicians and audiences.

"The notion that revenue from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it all starts for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to worthy causes.

When Pulp earned the award in 1996 for their album the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the act would donate their prize money to the charity the charity.

In 2002, artist the artist shared her bounty across a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.

"And I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they needed new equipment," she told the media.

Previously, Ezra Collective gave their winnings to the local youth club that nurtured their group, in addition to other local music groups.

And the 1994 recipients the group gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the illness.

"Receiving the award was sufficient," stated artist the singer. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory touched another person's life."

Last week, the MVT revealed it had protected a couple of small stages in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship.

The first in that area and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by a national body and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.