03-04-2025
Personnel Unknown by John Sudlow
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John Sudlow has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Personnel Unknown.
The winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $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. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17.
If you're interested in other CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.
The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.
About John Sudlow
Born and raised in Toronto, John Sudlow has an Anglo-Irish background. A father of two adult children, he and his wife live in Oakville, Ont. He studied literature at York University (MA). He taught English and the history of rock and roll for several years. He loves literature, baseball and rock and roll. He has participated in several writing workshops and has written an unpublished collection of short stories set in east end Toronto.
Entry in five-ish words
"Found song parallels man's life."
The short story's source of inspiration
"A trip to Île d'Orléans and the magic found there."
First lines
Today, in an old suitcase I had been lugging around for years, like unexploded ordnance, I found Viktor's T-shirt. I had the same address for twelve years. In the last 10, eight. Just spaces. But Viktor's T-shirt is a record, the objective truth about who, where and when, but silent about what and why.
It's the size of a large handkerchief, red cotton, made thin by repeated laundering. The image of the chieftain's head and script, once crisp and white, are faded and worn, like what happens to coins, letters, and headstones. But I know what was written there, "Le Domaine des Sorciers" and "St. Jean."
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie.
The complete list is:
