Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25k award winnings to the MVT, which operates to preserve the Britain's small music venues.
Fender was given the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in appreciation of the essential function local spots had in his initial steps.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have shut down – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist 38 local spots across Britain.
The money helped locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges stemming from water damage, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.
Some locations were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from shows in major spaces helps the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," the star has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
When they received the award in the mid-90s for their album the album, lead singer Cocker announced that the band would give their prize money to the charity War Child.
That year, rapper and singer the artist split her award among several charities, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"And I gave a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," she told outlets.
In recent years, the band gave their winnings to the community center that developed their act, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Also 1994 winners M People gave their prize to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was ample," stated artist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our winning impacted the lives of others."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into public stewardship.
The first in the city and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership program, which is funded by a national body and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the venues.
