For the second year in a row, a Canadian writer has been named the regional winner for Canada and Europe of the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Chanel Sutherland was one of two Canadian writers shortlisted last month for the regional prize. Sutherland was named the winner of the Canada and Europe regional prize on May 14.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually to the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Shortlisted writers are sorted into five regional categories: Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and Pacific. Regional winners each receive £2,500 ($4,573 CAD), with the overall winner to receive £5,000 ($9,147 CAD).

Sutherland, who has also won the CBC short story prize, won the regional prize for her story “Descend,” which is set on a sinking slave ship. As the ship sinks, the enslaved Africans on board share the stories of their lives.

“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,” Sutherland said in a press release. “I felt a deep need to hear their voices, and started to imagine what they might have said if given the chance.”

The five regional winners’s stories will be published online by Granta before the overall winner of this year’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize is announced on June 25.

Montreal writer Julie Bouchard won the regional prize for Canada and Europe last year, and was the first Canadian writer to do so in more than a decade.