Sam Fender has given the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to save the UK's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was given the award on 16 October as his new release People Watching was named the top album of the last 12 months.
He has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function small stages had in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked the artist. "These locations are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a small levy to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, generating over £100k on his live tour to support numerous grassroots venues across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were dealing with imminent closure due to challenges stemming from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained monetary aid in upgrading facilities and gear that directly benefitted performers and audiences.
"The notion that money from performances in big venues helps the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
He is among several artists to donate his honor prize money to good deeds.
When they received the trophy in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist the singer declared that the band would donate their cash to the organization War Child.
That year, musician the artist split her bounty across a few good causes, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
Previously, they contributed their funds to the youth organization that developed their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally 1994 winners M People contributed their award to a MS organization after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated singer Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted another person's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to local control.
One venue in the city and The Croft in the city were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "shares" in the buildings.
