The Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Chanel Sutherland from Canada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for her story “Descend.”
The story centres on enslaved Africans sharing their life stories as the ship they are on sinks.
The Commonwealth Foundation disclosed the overall winner on 25 June. It announced regional winners in May.
Joshua Lubwama from Uganda won the Africa region for “Mothers Not Appearing in Search”.
Chanel, born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and living in Montreal, Canada, saw off 7,920 entrants worldwide to take the £5,000 prize. In her powerful winning story, ‘Descend’, enslaved Africans share their life stories as the ship transporting them sinks.
The news was announced at an online award ceremony, presented by Rwandan performing artist and storyteller, Malaika Uwamahoro. The ceremony featured this year’s regional winners: Joshua Lubwama (Uganda, Africa region), Faria Basher (Bangladesh, Asia region), Subraj Singh (Guyana, Caribbean region), and Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia, Pacific region). All five 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.
Chanel Sutherland says of her motivation: “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. Winning feels deeply affirming as if that little girl scribbling in the sand was always right to believe that stories mattered.”
She added, ‘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. “Storytelling began before I
Regional Winners (£2,500 each).
Africa: Joshua Lubwama (Uganda) for “Mothers Not Appearing in Search”, about youth, football, and unexpected bonds. The judge, Nsah Mala, praised its “elegant prose, sense of humour, and thematic novelties”.
Asia: Faria Basher (Bangladesh) for “An Eye and a Leg”, a surreal story about a woman’s body deteriorating and her family’s response, blending satire with dark comedy. Basher is the first Bangladeshi-origin writer to win this regional prize.
Caribbean: Subraj Singh (Guyana) – “Margot’s Run”.
Pacific: Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia) – “Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls”.
The Commonwealth Foundation administers the prize and recognises unpublished short fiction from across the Commonwealth.
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