Regional winners announced for 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

The winners for the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize regional categories have been announced.

Chosen from a shortlist of six, the winner for the Pacific region is Western Australian writer Kathleen Ridgwell for ‘Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls’.

The regional winning titles are:

Africa

• ‘Mothers Not Appearing in Search’ by Joshua Lubwama (Uganda)

Asia

• ‘An Eye and a Leg’ by Faria Basher (Bangladesh)

Canada/Europe

• ‘Descend’ by Chanel Sutherland (Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)

Caribbean

• ‘Margot’s Run’ by Subraj Singh (Guyana)

Pacific

• ‘Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls’ by Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia).

The 2024 winner of the Pacific category was Aotearoa New Zealand writer Pip Robertson for her story ‘A River Then the Road’.

The overall winner will be chosen from the list of regional winners and announced on 25 June 2025. Regional winners will receive £2500 (A$5141) and the overall winner will receive £5000 (A$10,282).

Read more: An editorial letter from B+P on the reporting of this story.

Category: Awards Local news