Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland wins regional 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
The Montreal writer won in the Canada and Europe category
Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland is a regional winner for the £5,000 (approx. $9,284 Cdn) Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize annually recognizes the best piece of unpublished short fiction from one of the Commonwealth's 56 Member States. The winner is chosen from the five winners of the annual regional competitions in the categories of Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean and Pacific.
Sutherland is recognized for her story Descend, about a sinking ship of enslaved Africans with powerful stories to tell.
"As I read more about the enslaved populations that shaped the Caribbean, and specifically Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, I noticed how often their stories were told by Europeans, sometimes generations later," she said in a press statement.
"I felt a deep need to hear their voices, and started to imagine what they might have said if given the chance."
Sutherland, who is from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2021. Her debut short story collection, Layaway Child, will be released in spring 2026 and will include the story that won the CBC Short Story Prize. She lives in Montreal.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Poetry Prize is open now until June 1. The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. You can learn more here.
The complete list of regional winners are as follows:
- Africa: Mothers Not Appearing in Search by Joshua Lubwama
- Asia: An Eye and a Leg by Faria Basher
- Canada and Europe: Descend by Chanel Sutherland
- Caribbean: Margot's Run by Subraj Singh
- Pacific: Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls by Kathleen Ridgwell
They each receive £2,500 (approx. $4,643 Cdn) and will be published online by the literary magazine Granta and in a print collection by Paper + Ink.
The winners were chosen from 7,920 entries by judges Vilsoni Hereniko, chair, Nsah Mala, Saras Manickam, Anita Sethi, Lisa Allen-Agostini and Apirana Taylor and are published in the online magazine adda.
The overall winner will be revealed June 25.
Montreal writer Julie Bouchard was a regional winner for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2024.
