diff --git a/unreleased.sh b/unreleased.sh
index b216b7eebd..c6d854a2cc 100755
--- a/unreleased.sh
+++ b/unreleased.sh
@@ -2,4 +2,7 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2019 The DAML Authors. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-for SHA in $(git log --format=%H "$1"); do git log --format=%b "$SHA" | awk '/^$/{next} toupper($0) ~ /CHANGELOG_END/{flag=0; next} toupper($0) ~ /CHANGELOG_BEGIN/{flag=1; next} flag'; done
+for SHA in $(git log --format=%H "$1"); do
+  git show --quiet --format=%b "$SHA" \
+    | awk '/^$/{next} toupper($0) ~ /CHANGELOG_END/{flag=0; next} toupper($0) ~ /CHANGELOG_BEGIN/{flag=1; next} flag'
+done