Canadian Vincentian Chanel Sutherland Wins 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Sutherland, a former CBC short story prize-winner, describes how she 'took a risk' with 'Descend'—'its shape, its voices—because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity'
Judges praise a story that 'affirms the unrivalled power of storytelling to set our spirits free and find hope where none exists'
Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland has today been announced as the overall winner of the world's most global literature prize. The 41-year-old, who was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lives in Montreal, Canada, saw off 7,920 entrants worldwide to take the £5,000 prize.
The Commonwealth Foundation announced her win at an online ceremony, presented by Rwandan performing artist and storyteller, Malaika Uwamahoro, in which Chanel and the other four regional winners spoke about their writing and read short extracts from their stories.
In 'Descend', as a slave ship sinks, one of the enslaved Africans starts telling a story of the wife he has left behind. In the darkness, others join in. Springing vividly to life, the men and women tell their own stories—of love, family and the worlds from which they had been brutally removed.
The chair of the judges, Dr Vilsoni Hereniko, said, 'Told in the quiet voice of a seer, 'Descend' is deep and profound. It tells the story of slaves packed like sardines in the hull of a sinking ship, an allegory that affirms the unrivalled power of storytelling to set our spirits free and find hope where none exists. My deepest gratitude and congratulations to the judges and the Commonwealth Foundation for shining a light on this masterpiece.'
Dr Anne T. Gallagher AO, Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation, the intergovernmental organisation that administers the prize, said ''Descend' is a superb piece of storytelling—bold in form, precise in detail, and unforgettable in its impact. Chanel Sutherland has taken a moment of extreme peril and fashioned a narrative that holds the reader from first line to last. She handles the weight of history with precision and imagination. This is exactly the level of craft and originality the Commonwealth Short Story Prize exists to celebrate. My congratulations to Chanel, to our outstanding regional winners, and to every writer who entered this year's record-breaking competition.'
Chanel Sutherland said, 'I took a risk with 'Descend'—its shape, its voices—because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity. I can't tell all the stories, or restore the lives that were stolen, but I'm humbled that this one resonates.'
Describing how she found her voice as a writer, she added, 'My love for storytelling began before I even fully understood what a story was—I only knew they made me feel something, and I wanted to make others feel it too. Back in Saint Vincent, I used to scrawl my earliest stories into the sand in our yard, knowing they'd be washed away by rain or footsteps. We didn't have the resources for writing as a hobby, but I kept writing anyway, because the stories kept coming. To go from that little girl with fleeting words to now being recognised with such a prestigious and global prize is something I could never have dreamed possible. Winning feels deeply affirming—as if that little girl scribbling in the sand was always right to believe that stories mattered.
'My deepest gratitude to the Commonwealth Foundation, the judges and to my fellow regional winners Joshua, Faria, Kathleen and Subraj—your stories are extraordinary, and I'm honoured to be in your company. Here's to the stories that move us, mend us, and remind us we're not alone—may we keep telling them!'
Chanel Sutherland is a Canadian Vincentian writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her debut short story collection, Layaway Child, will be published by House of Anansi in 2026. Chanel won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize and the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and received the 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship. CBC Books named her one of 30 Writers to Watch in 2022.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is free to enter and is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from the Commonwealth. It is the only prize in the world where entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish as well as English.
The story was selected as the overall winner by an international panel of judges, chaired by Dr Vilsoni Hereniko. The judges are: author, poet and scholar Nsah Mala from Cameroon (Africa); writer and 2019 Asia regional winner Saras Manickam from Malayasia (Asia); writer and journalist Dr Anita Sethi from the United Kingdom (Canada and Europe); writer, editor and comedian Lisa Allen-Agostini from Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean); and poet, actor, musician and writer Apirana Taylor from Aotearoa/New Zealand (Pacific).
As part of the Commonwealth Foundation's partnership with The London Library, the overall winner receives a two years' Full Membership to the Library and the regional winners receive a year's Full Membership.
The literary magazine Granta has published all the regional winning stories of the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, including 'Descend'.
The five stories will also be available in a special print collection from Paper + Ink (www.paperand.ink).
Global impact on writers' careers
Winning or being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story prize opens a wealth of opportunities for writers, propelling them further in their writing careers. Every year, winning and shortlisted writers have found literary agents, been invited to literary festivals, and had their work published in national and international literary publications.
2024 overall winner Sanjana Thakur had her winning story Aishwarya selected for the Best American Short Stories 2025 following its publication on Granta. She has since spoken on literary panels and had stories and poems published in Adroit, Booth, The Rumpus, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Pigeon Pages.
For Julie Bouchard, 2024 regional winner for Canada and Europe, the prize allowed her to apply for and receive a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to transform her winning short story 'What Burns' into a novel. Moreover, the recognition gave her Québec editor the chance to present her work to anglophone Canadian publishers, highlighting her Commonwealth Short Story Prize win. As Julie put it, 'Ultimately, this experience offered me far more than mere recognition—it became a gateway to new creative ventures and a significant catalyst in my artistic journey'.
Pip Robertson, 2024 regional winner for the Pacific region, was invited to submit a story for one of the premium journals in New Zealand, Newsroom. 2024 Caribbean regional winner Portia Subran (Trinidad and Tobago) was invited to the British Virgin Islands Literature Festival.
Moreover, writers continue to benefit from their prize success. In 2024, Kwame McPherson, the 2023 overall winner, announced that his winning story 'Ocoee' was under consideration for a film/TV adaptation, and in 2025 he was invited to the 34th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) as a guest speaker at its cultural and professional programme.
Submissions for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize will open on 1 September 2025. Those interested in entering the prize can follow @cwfcreatives on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and keep up to date with the prize via commonwealthfoundation.com/short-story-prize.
Notes
About the Commonwealth Short Story Prize
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation. The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 GBP and the overall winner receives £5,000 GBP. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. The winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink.
The 2025 regional winners and their stories are:
Africa: 'Mothers Not Appearing in Search' by Joshua Lubwama (Uganda)
Asia: 'An Eye and a Leg' by Faria Basher (Bangladesh)
Canada and Europe: 'Descend' by Chanel Sutherland (Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
Caribbean: 'Margot's Run' by Subraj Singh (Guyana)
Pacific: 'Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls' by Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia)
About the Commonwealth Foundation
The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation mandated by its member countries to advance the interests of Commonwealth civil society. Upholding a firm commitment to the principles and ideals of the Commonwealth, the Foundation seeks to nurture the growth of vibrant and free societies: championing the active and constructive participation of people in all aspects of governance.
commonwealthfoundation.com
About the Commonwealth Short Story Prize
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation. The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 GBP and the overall winner receives £5,000 GBP. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. The winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink.
About the Commonwealth Foundation
The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation mandated by its Member States to advance the interests of Commonwealth civil society. Upholding a firm commitment to the principles and ideals of the Commonwealth, the Foundation seeks to nurture the growth of vibrant and free societies: championing the active and constructive participation of people in all aspects of governance.
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41-year-old Canadian Vincentian writer wins the world's most global literature prize for 'Descend', a story in which enslaved Africans share their life stories, as the ship transporting them sinks Sutherland, a former CBC short story prize-winner, describes how she 'took a risk' with 'Descend'—'its shape, its voices—because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity' Judges praise a story that 'affirms the unrivalled power of storytelling to set our spirits free and find hope where none exists' Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland has today been announced as the overall winner of the world's most global literature prize. The 41-year-old, who was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and lives in Montreal, Canada, saw off 7,920 entrants worldwide to take the £5,000 prize. The Commonwealth Foundation announced her win at an online ceremony, presented by Rwandan performing artist and storyteller, Malaika Uwamahoro, in which Chanel and the other four regional winners spoke about their writing and read short extracts from their stories. In 'Descend', as a slave ship sinks, one of the enslaved Africans starts telling a story of the wife he has left behind. In the darkness, others join in. Springing vividly to life, the men and women tell their own stories—of love, family and the worlds from which they had been brutally removed. The chair of the judges, Dr Vilsoni Hereniko, said, 'Told in the quiet voice of a seer, 'Descend' is deep and profound. It tells the story of slaves packed like sardines in the hull of a sinking ship, an allegory that affirms the unrivalled power of storytelling to set our spirits free and find hope where none exists. My deepest gratitude and congratulations to the judges and the Commonwealth Foundation for shining a light on this masterpiece.' Dr Anne T. Gallagher AO, Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation, the intergovernmental organisation that administers the prize, said ''Descend' is a superb piece of storytelling—bold in form, precise in detail, and unforgettable in its impact. Chanel Sutherland has taken a moment of extreme peril and fashioned a narrative that holds the reader from first line to last. She handles the weight of history with precision and imagination. This is exactly the level of craft and originality the Commonwealth Short Story Prize exists to celebrate. My congratulations to Chanel, to our outstanding regional winners, and to every writer who entered this year's record-breaking competition.' Chanel Sutherland said, 'I took a risk with 'Descend'—its shape, its voices—because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity. I can't tell all the stories, or restore the lives that were stolen, but I'm humbled that this one resonates.' Describing how she found her voice as a writer, she added, 'My love for storytelling began before I even fully understood what a story was—I only knew they made me feel something, and I wanted to make others feel it too. Back in Saint Vincent, I used to scrawl my earliest stories into the sand in our yard, knowing they'd be washed away by rain or footsteps. We didn't have the resources for writing as a hobby, but I kept writing anyway, because the stories kept coming. To go from that little girl with fleeting words to now being recognised with such a prestigious and global prize is something I could never have dreamed possible. Winning feels deeply affirming—as if that little girl scribbling in the sand was always right to believe that stories mattered. 'My deepest gratitude to the Commonwealth Foundation, the judges and to my fellow regional winners Joshua, Faria, Kathleen and Subraj—your stories are extraordinary, and I'm honoured to be in your company. Here's to the stories that move us, mend us, and remind us we're not alone—may we keep telling them!' Chanel Sutherland is a Canadian Vincentian writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her debut short story collection, Layaway Child, will be published by House of Anansi in 2026. Chanel won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize and the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and received the 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship. CBC Books named her one of 30 Writers to Watch in 2022. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is free to enter and is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from the Commonwealth. It is the only prize in the world where entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish as well as English. The story was selected as the overall winner by an international panel of judges, chaired by Dr Vilsoni Hereniko. The judges are: author, poet and scholar Nsah Mala from Cameroon (Africa); writer and 2019 Asia regional winner Saras Manickam from Malayasia (Asia); writer and journalist Dr Anita Sethi from the United Kingdom (Canada and Europe); writer, editor and comedian Lisa Allen-Agostini from Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean); and poet, actor, musician and writer Apirana Taylor from Aotearoa/New Zealand (Pacific). As part of the Commonwealth Foundation's partnership with The London Library, the overall winner receives a two years' Full Membership to the Library and the regional winners receive a year's Full Membership. The literary magazine Granta has published all the regional winning stories of the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, including 'Descend'. The five stories will also be available in a special print collection from Paper + Ink ( Global impact on writers' careers Winning or being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story prize opens a wealth of opportunities for writers, propelling them further in their writing careers. Every year, winning and shortlisted writers have found literary agents, been invited to literary festivals, and had their work published in national and international literary publications. 2024 overall winner Sanjana Thakur had her winning story Aishwarya selected for the Best American Short Stories 2025 following its publication on Granta. She has since spoken on literary panels and had stories and poems published in Adroit, Booth, The Rumpus, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Pigeon Pages. For Julie Bouchard, 2024 regional winner for Canada and Europe, the prize allowed her to apply for and receive a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to transform her winning short story 'What Burns' into a novel. Moreover, the recognition gave her Québec editor the chance to present her work to anglophone Canadian publishers, highlighting her Commonwealth Short Story Prize win. As Julie put it, 'Ultimately, this experience offered me far more than mere recognition—it became a gateway to new creative ventures and a significant catalyst in my artistic journey'. Pip Robertson, 2024 regional winner for the Pacific region, was invited to submit a story for one of the premium journals in New Zealand, Newsroom. 2024 Caribbean regional winner Portia Subran (Trinidad and Tobago) was invited to the British Virgin Islands Literature Festival. Moreover, writers continue to benefit from their prize success. In 2024, Kwame McPherson, the 2023 overall winner, announced that his winning story 'Ocoee' was under consideration for a film/TV adaptation, and in 2025 he was invited to the 34th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) as a guest speaker at its cultural and professional programme. Submissions for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize will open on 1 September 2025. Those interested in entering the prize can follow @cwfcreatives on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and keep up to date with the prize via Notes About the Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation. The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 GBP and the overall winner receives £5,000 GBP. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. The winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink. The 2025 regional winners and their stories are: Africa: 'Mothers Not Appearing in Search' by Joshua Lubwama (Uganda) Asia: 'An Eye and a Leg' by Faria Basher (Bangladesh) Canada and Europe: 'Descend' by Chanel Sutherland (Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) Caribbean: 'Margot's Run' by Subraj Singh (Guyana) Pacific: 'Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls' by Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia) About the Commonwealth Foundation The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation mandated by its member countries to advance the interests of Commonwealth civil society. Upholding a firm commitment to the principles and ideals of the Commonwealth, the Foundation seeks to nurture the growth of vibrant and free societies: championing the active and constructive participation of people in all aspects of governance. About the Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation. The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 GBP and the overall winner receives £5,000 GBP. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. The winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink. About the Commonwealth Foundation The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation mandated by its Member States to advance the interests of Commonwealth civil society. Upholding a firm commitment to the principles and ideals of the Commonwealth, the Foundation seeks to nurture the growth of vibrant and free societies: championing the active and constructive participation of people in all aspects of governance.
