Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25,000 honor winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the Britain's independent music venues.
He was presented with the award on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
The musician has decided to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the essential function small stages played in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," remarked Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Fender also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to support numerous small stages across Britain.
The donation helped locations that were facing imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.
Other venues obtained funding support in modernizing facilities and gear that positively impacted musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from shows in large arenas helps the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
Back when Pulp won the award in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman the singer declared that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her bounty between multiple charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they needed better apparatus," she told the media.
Previously, they donated their winnings to the local youth club that developed their act, in addition to other local music groups.
And winners that year the group gave their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the disease.
"Receiving the award was ample," remarked vocalist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we could do without the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning affected the lives of others."
In the past week, the MVT announced it had rescued a couple of small stages in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
The first in Southampton and the second in that location were bought under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by a national body and music fans who acquire "ownership units" in the buildings.
