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The star has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound honor cash to the MVT, which operates to preserve the UK's grassroots concert spaces.

He was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his new release his work was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues played in his beginning days.

"As an artist couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."

From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the entire UK sector.

Over the past year, well-known musicians including Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help local stages.

Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across the UK.

These funds assisted venues that were facing possible closure due to issues stemming from floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, conflicts and sound issues.

Additional spaces received financial assistance in modernizing amenities and gear that positively impacted artists and audiences.

"The idea that money from concerts in large arenas backs the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.

Fender is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.

When Pulp received the trophy in the mid-90s for their release Different Class, frontman Cocker declared that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.

In 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her award among several charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I donated a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics class, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked better apparatus," the artist shared with the media.

In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the youth organization that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally 1994 winners M People gave their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.

"The victory was ample," 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."

In the past week, the MVT revealed it had protected several local spots in the South East, by bringing them into local control.

One venue in the city and The Croft in that location were bought under the public acquisition program, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the buildings.