Joshua Lubwama and Chanel Sutherland were announced Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2025 regional winners on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English in the regions of Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Each of these winners is then eligible for the global prize. Some previous winners in the Africa region have been Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (2014), Lesley Nneka Arimah (2015), Faraaz Mahomed (2016), Akwaeke Emezi (2017), Efua Traoré (2018), Mbozi Haimbe (2019), Innocent Chizaram Ilo (2020), Rémy Ngamije and Roland Watson-Grant (2021), Ntsika Kota (2022), Kwame McPherson and Hana Gammon (2023), and Reena and Portia Subran (2024). Global winners include Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (2014) and Kwame McPherson (2023).
The 2025 jury was chaired by Fijian writer and filmmaker Dr Vilsoni Hereniko alongside Cameroonian author, poet and scholar Nsah Mala (Africa); Malaysian writer and 2019 Asia regional winner Saras Manickam (Asia); British writer and journalist Dr Anita Sethi (Canada and Europe); Trinidad and Tobago writer, editor and comedian Lisa Allen-Agostini (Caribbean); and Aotearoa/New Zealand poet, actor, musician and writer Apirana Taylor (Pacific).
This jury read through 7,920 entries from 54 Commonwealth countries, selected shortlists with writers aged 21 to 75, and announced the shortlists on April 15 before the winners were made public on Wednesday.
Chair of the Judges, Dr Vilsoni Hereniko, said, ‘These stories illuminate many aspects of human nature and demonstrate true mastery of the short story form. Each tale shows that geography matters in storytelling. They are works of fiction that are inseparable from the local culture and history from which they have sprung. They have colour and emotional resonance — and they moved me deeply. Congratulations to the regional winners and judges!’
The winning writers of African descent are;
Africa
- Mothers Not Appearing in Search, Joshua Lubwama (Uganda)
Lubwama’s winning story, Mothers Not Appearing In Search tells of a football-mad young man who befriends Fatima, a new arrival in the neighbourhood. Fatima helps Musa in his sporting ambitions but his mother strongly disapproves. Lubwama says his story was partly based on his and his siblings experience growing up. ‘Our late grandmother’s illiteracy and her diligent efforts to conceal it were suddenly brought to our awareness by the arrival into the neighbourhood of a young, charitable woman, setting up the stage for a clash of generations, which looking back had a lot more to it than I could ever have figured out at ten years old.’
The judge representing the Africa region, Cameroonian author, poet, and scholar Nsah Mala said, “Mothers Not Appearing in Search stands out in many ways, especially its elegant prose, sense of humour, and thematic novelties. Coming out from Africa as the most youthful continent on Earth, this story is an arresting narration of youthfulness and football. And it also wittily evokes fate, love and women’s empowerment. As the story suggests, the path to one’s destiny is not paved with angels only. What a memorable story!”
Commenting on his win, Lubwama said, “Winning the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for the Africa Region has given me licence to dream. For this story—’Mothers Not Appearing in Search’—to appeal to an international panel of judges means the world to me. One day you’re spending lonesome hours at the dining table wrestling a story into existence—with the entire process shrouded in self-doubt—and then the next, these Commonwealth Foundation people are telling you they’re absolutely thrilled to let you know that you’re shortlisted, and then there’s more. It’s really a testament to the power and ability of stories to connect us through our shared experiences, each of us recognising bits and aspects of our own lives in the tales of others.”
Canada and Europe
- Descend, Chanel Sutherland (Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
Sutherland’s winning story, Descend, is set on a slave ship. As the ship sinks, enslaved Africans share their life stories. Their voices rise in defiance, illuminating memory, resilience, and hope.
Commenting on the background to her story, Sutherland says, ‘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. I felt a deep need to hear their voices, and started to imagine what they might have said if given the chance.
She adds, ‘I began writing Descend while flying to a writing retreat in Greece last year—drafting it in the air, on the journey there and back. Many of the story’s metaphors came from that experience: lightning struck our plane at one point, flashing through the cabin, and the raw physicality of being suspended between places helped me imagine, in some small way, the terror and hope and weight of those trapped at the bottom of that ship. Giving voice back to the enslaved felt urgent—especially at a time when stories are being banned and histories erased.’
The overall winner will be revealed at a ceremony on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
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