Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland has won the £5,000 (approx. $9,329 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The Commonwealth Short Story Prize annually recognizes the best piece of unpublished short fiction from one of the Commonwealth's 56 Member States.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. 

"I took a risk with Descend — its shape, its voices — because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity," said Sutherland in a press statement.

"I can't tell all the stories or restore the lives that were stolen, but I'm humbled that this one resonates."

I can't tell all the stories or restore the lives that were stolen, but I'm humbled that this one resonates.- Chanel Sutherland

Sutherland has always had a passion for storytelling, finding her voice for writing from a young age. Growing up in St. Vincent, she used to write stories in the sand in her yard, even though they'd be swept away by rain or footsteps.

"To go from that little girl with fleeting words to now being recognized with such a prestigious and global prize is something I could never have dreamed possible," she said. "Winning feels deeply affirming — as if that little girl scribbling in the sand was always right to believe that stories mattered."

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.

The regional winners of the prize were Joshua Lubwama in the Africa category, Faria Basher in the Asia category, Subraj Singh in the Caribbean category and Kathleen Ridgwell in the Pacific category.

They each receive £2,500 (approx. $4,666 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. 

 Montreal writer Julie Bouchard was a regional winner for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2024.