'Let your work be seen': Two-time winner Chanel Sutherland on why you should submit to the CBC Literary Prizes
The CBC Nonfiction Prize is open between Jan. 1 and March 1
Montreal-based writer Chanel Sutherland is a two-time CBC Literary Prize winner. She first won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay, Umbrella. Then, in 2022, she won the CBC Short Story Prize for her story Beneath the Softness of Snow. Sutherland, who is from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her debut short story collection, Layaway Child, will be released in spring 2026 and includes the story that won the CBC Short Story Prize.
Layaway Child is a linked short story collection that explores the resilient journeys of Caribbean families — especially mothers and daughters — fractured by migration. The stories capture the harshness of immigration and the complexities of living between the two worlds, from their lush island childhoods to the cold Canadian cities.
The CBC Nonfiction Prize is an annual competition — and the 2026 prize is currently open for submissions until March 1 at 4:59 p.m. ET. The prize recognizes works of original, unpublished nonfiction up to 2,500 words. Nonfiction includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing and feature articles.
The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. Four finalists each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and their work is also published on CBC Books.
Sutherland spoke to CBC's All in a Weekend host Sonali Karnick about her writing and tips on submitting to the CBC Literary Prizes.
Sonali Karnick: You're a two-time winner, actually, of the CBC Literary Prizes, the first one you won was the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2021. What was that essay about?
Chanel Sutherland: So the essay was titled Umbrella. It was about an experience that I had with a high school friend, this white girl that I was friends with when I first moved to Canada. It's just this interaction between me and her that lays bare ... the tensions of fitting in as a Black immigrant in Canada and capturing her racial microaggression.
That moment shaped me, a young Black girl, and my sense of belonging in this foreign place.
The following year you won the CBC Short Story Prize and in 2025 you won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. What do you enjoy about that form of writing?
I enjoy writing it. I think that with short-form [writing], there's nowhere to hide. Every sentence has to carry weight. Every sentence has to move the piece forward. That allows you to stay close to the moment that you're writing about.
I can enter the moment — I can lose to what the moment is very deeply — and use a lot of sensory details to then write it.
I'm very interested in the space between things, like the unsaid. When I read stories, I really love when there is room for the reader to insert themselves into the story. And as a writer, I am very interested in how our stories connect each other as human beings.
When I won for Umbrella, a lot of folks from across the world reached out and said they had similar experiences. So I think the short form allows that space and allows the reader to see themselves in the story. And if that happens, then I've done my job.
What impact has winning these prizes had on your writing career?
I think the most significant impact is the book that's coming out on May 12, Layaway Child. Right after I won, the editor who acquired it reached out, in 2022, wanting to acquire the book but I wasn't ready. And the first agent who reached out to me when I won in 2021 is my representative now. So the CBC Literary Prizes launched my career.
It's been very significant in my career and just helping me realize this dream that I've had since I was seven years old.- Chanel Sutherland
I am now — I can actually say — I am a writer and in May, I'll be able to say I'm an author with a book out. So it's been very significant in my career and just helping me realize this dream that I've had since I was seven.
The CBC Literary Prizes come with a two-week residency at the Banff Centre. So what happens when you go to a residency like that?
You get time, uninterrupted time, physical distance, a beautiful studio. You're nestled in the mountains. And so you can't help but be inspired to write. I have done Banff twice now because of the CBC Literary Prizes and it's helped me complete this book. But more than that, it's helped me create my writing community.
Before 2021, I wasn't really sending my work out. I was just this alone person at my computer writing my stories for myself and a few folks who read it in my writing group.
When I went to Banff, I met so many writers who were emerging or who were already advancing their career. That's become my community as a result of my time in Banff. I'm so grateful for that, it's just been magic. I've talked to writers who've gotten residencies, and they say having that time just to focus on writing is so essential.
Your debut book, Layaway Child, a short story collection, is going to be released later this spring. Tell me about some of the stories in the book.
So the story that won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize is the first story in the book. It's called Beneath the Softness of Snow. And I think that story itself — if you've read it — it kind of sets the tone for the rest of the book. It's about immigrant mothers who move to Canada, having left their children behind to work as housekeepers or nannies here, and just their experience, including the distance from their children. And then what happens when those children join them.
So it's a group of stories that's very based on my life, my experience — with some creative license — and the experience of my mom, my sisters, my aunts and other people, other folks from the community.
There's still quite a few weeks left to enter the CBC Nonfiction Prize if you want to do that. What advice would you give to those people who are thinking about entering?
I feel like I can go back to 2021 and remember the anxiety that I felt about entering. The anxiety is real, we all feel it. Most writers, most creators feel it.
If you're nervous, you're not doing anything wrong, you're doing something that matters.- Chanel Sutherland
But entering is less about being brave than it is about giving yourself permission to let your work be seen. It's about putting your work out into the world — and getting it in front of readers —because you never know what's going to happen.
So if you're nervous, you're not doing anything wrong, you're doing something that matters. That's usually what the nerves and anxiety mean. I think that's often a very good reason to enter. And I mean, you never know what's going to happen. I didn't think I was going to win, but I won twice. So, yeah, send your workout, take that breath and just submit.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.