{"id":500618,"date":"2026-10-19T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500618\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T01:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T01:32:10","slug":"san-diego-librarys-matchbook-story-contest-celebrates-10th-year-boosting-literary-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500618\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Library’s Matchbook Story Contest celebrates 10th year, boosting literary community"},"content":{"rendered":"

What began as a quirky challenge to craft a short story inside a matchbook has turned into one of San Diego’s most beloved literary events. The San Diego Library is gearing up for its 10th annual Matchbook Story Contest<\/a>, running from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15.<\/p>\n

“It is something that people look forward to the whole year,” said Scott Ehrig-Burgess, director of library engagement.<\/p>\n

The contest invites writers to submit stories of 50 words or fewer.<\/p>\n

“It’s San Diego’s shortest and quirkiest short story contest,” Ehrig-Burgess said, explaining that the initial idea was almost a joke but has attracted around 400 entrants annually. This year’s winner will be crowned at San Diego’s distinctive Shorties Awards Show, where participants roll out the red carpet for writers.<\/p>\n

Entry costs $5, and all proceeds support the library system. Over the contest’s decade-long history, it has raised tens of thousands of dollars, thanks in part to generous donations, including a triple-match campaign by Judith Wenker. In 2025 alone, the contest received over 250 entries and garnered more than $5,000 to support the Library Foundation.<\/p>\n

Past winners include both established authors and newcomers. Tara Gilboy, the first-ever winner, shared her own struggle.<\/p>\n

“It’s really hard to write short. I actually had to write longer and keep cutting it shorter and shorter,” she said.<\/p>\n

This year, participants have a chance to see their stories printed on 2,000 matchbooks, receive a gift card, and earn a spot in the library’s Rare Book Room.<\/p>\n

RELATED: San Diego ‘Fixit Clinics’ empower residents to repair rather than replace household items<\/a><\/p>\n

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 15. What do you have to lose? If your story isn’t a winner, it could just go up in smoke.<\/p>\n

“I mean it comes with its own delete button basically,” Ehrig-Burgess said.<\/p>\n

For more information, potential participants can visit the San Diego Library’s website by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What began as a quirky challenge to craft a short story inside a matchbook has turned into one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-500618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}