Prize raised by council leader (3)
I believe the answer is:
cup
'prize' is the definition.
(I know that cup is a type of prize)
'raised by council leader' is the wordplay.
'raised' becomes 'up' (similar in meaning).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'council' is 'c'.
'up' put after 'c' is 'CUP'.
(Other definitions for cup that I've seen before include "Drinking bowl" , "Container to drink from - prize" , "Sort of cake" , "'There's many a slip 'twixt ... and lip.'" , "competition" .)