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The star has given the complete sum of his £25,000 honor prize money to the MVT, which works to save the Britain's independent live music spots.

Fender was presented with the prize on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

He has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role local spots had in his early career.

"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these venues have permanently closed – approximately 16% of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.

Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his recent tour to assist 38 small stages across Britain.

The donation helped venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to difficulties arising from flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.

Other venues obtained funding support in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that helped performers and fans.

"The concept that money from shows in large arenas supports the local stages, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has stated.

The musician is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.

Back when the band earned the award in the mid-90s for their release the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the band would donate their cash to the charity War Child.

In 2002, musician the artist shared her award across several charities, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," she explained to the media.

In recent years, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, alongside other independent music bodies.

Also winners that year the group contributed their award to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the disease.

"Receiving the award was ample," remarked artist the singer. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched another person's life."

Recently, the MVT shared it had rescued several local spots in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.

The Joiners in that area and the other in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues program, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the buildings.