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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to protect the UK's grassroots live music spots.

He was given the award on 16 October as his latest record his work was declared the best record of the previous year.

Fender has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"As an artist would not have achieved what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I did around the region, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

Sam Fender also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help numerous grassroots venues across Britain.

The money supported venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to issues arising from floods, fires and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.

Other venues received financial assistance in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.

"The notion that funds from concerts in large arenas supports the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.

The musician is not the first artist to give his award funds to charitable organizations.

Back when the band earned the award in the mid-90s for their record their work, vocalist Cocker stated that the group would give their prize money to the organization the charity.

During 2002, musician the artist divided her bounty among several charities, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"And I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," the artist shared with the media.

In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the youth organization that nurtured their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Also 1994 winners the group gave their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the illness.

"The victory was sufficient," stated vocalist the singer. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our success impacted somebody else's life."

Last week, the trust revealed it had protected several grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in Southampton and the other in that location were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by a national body and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.