Sam Fender beats CMAT and Fontaines DC to win Mercury Prize 2025
By Ellie Crabbe and Tom Wilkinson, PA
Singer-songwriter Sam Fender has won the 2025 Mercury Prize for his third album People Watching.
The announcement was made at the award ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday night, marking the first time the event has been held outside London.
Jubilant crowds cheered for local lad Fender, born and raised in North Shields, who beat competition from Britpop band Pulp, Irish artists CMAT and Fontaines DC, among others.
DJ Lauren Laverne hosted the ceremony, and judge Sian Eleri revealed the 31-year-old had won at the Utilita Arena after performances from a number of the nominees, including FKA Twigs and Martin Carthy.
Accepting the award, Fender thanked other nominees, saying “we’re in great company”.
He dedicated his prize to Annie Orwin, his late friend and mentor who the album’s title track is about.
“I want to just say thank you because I never did to the person, the song that People Watching is about,” Fender said, becoming emotional.
“I want to dedicate it to Annie Orwin, who’s up there.
“That’s all I’ve got thank you, and I love, this region is the best region in the country.”
At the winner’s news conference later, Fender sipped champagne with his band and posed for photographers, joking that some of the missing players had snuck off “for a tab” (a cigarette).
He told reporters how surprised he was at being given the judges’ nod, saying: “We didn’t think we were going to win anything, so I am still in shock.”
“There’s a million things I could have said, I genuinely can’t think now.
“Normally, if you have an inkling (that you will win), you’ll write something but I was like, ‘nah, there’s nee way this is going to happen’, so … screwed it.”
Asked how the band will celebrate, he said: “I think we will go for a beer and then we have got four weeks off, so it’s just nice to be home.”
Among the other acts on the 12-album shortlist were indie rockers Wolf Alice, nominated for a fourth time for their album The Clearing and singer PinkPantheress who received a nod for her second mixtape Fancy That.
Eleri said: “After much hard discussion we decided on one album that stood out for its cohesion, character and ambition.
“It felt like a classic album, one that will take pride of place in record collections for years to come.”
Fender was previously nominated for Seventeen Going Under in 2022.
Founded in 1992, the award recognises the best British or Irish album of the year, though no Irish act has won the prize.
Widely considered this year’s favourite, CMAT, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, was nominated alongside fellow Irish act Fontaines for her LP Euro-Country.
She told the PA news agency the success of Irish acts has come as a result of “a lot of bad fruits coming to harvest”.
At the ceremony, the 29-year-old told PA: “I think that this is a bit of a generation of traumatised people that are getting to make music now.”
Last year, four-piece indie band English Teacher won the prize for their debut album This Could Be Texas.