Library Shop SD and Library Foundation SD are joined by Write Out Loud SD and Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater Pupeteer at the Shorties Awards on December 4, 2025.
Edmond Pang wins San Diego’s shortest short story contest at Library Shop SD Shorties Awards
Last night, filmmaker and novelist Edmond Pang took the top prize in the ninth annual Matchbook Story Contest during the sixth annual Shorties Awards. Pang Ho-cheung won with a 50-word story titled “Grandmother.” The Matchbook Story Contest and the Shorties Awards are managed by Library Shop SD, an independent bookstore owned and operated by Library Foundation SD.
Pang Ho-cheung’s winning short story will be printed in a limited-edition matchbook and displayed inside the Hervey Family Rare Book Room on the ninth floor of the San Diego Central Library at Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common starting in January 2026. He will also receive a $50 Library Shop SD gift card and 50 matchbooks printed with his story.
The limited-edition matchbooks with the winning story will be available for purchase starting January 2026 at both Library Shop SD locations — in the Central Library in San Diego’s East Village and at the newly opened location at 925 W. Washington Street in the Mission Hills neighborhood.
The Shorties Awards, San Diego’s shortest award ceremony, is held inside the Neil Morgan Auditorium at the San Diego Central Library at Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common and streamed on Library Foundation SD’s YouTube channel. The 2025 Shorties Awards started with guests walking the red carpet at 6:10 p.m. before officially starting at 6:30 p.m. This year’s ceremony included a reading of the 2024 Matchbook Story Contest – winning story by Echo Guernsey, followed by an interpretive puppet performance of her story by puppeteer Paige Turner from the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park.
Before announcing the winner of the 2025 Matchbook Story Contest, members of Write Out Loud SD read the top 10 stories from this year’s competition. Finalists were Jodie Anders, Aaryn Belfer, Malki Farah, Gretchen Griswold, Jason Moore, and Steven Montgomery (with two stories in the top 10), Donna Seecof, and Anita Tran. The winning story was announced by Patrick Stewart, CEO of Library Foundation SD, who read the short story to the audience:
“Don’t rub your eyes too hard, my grandmother said. Ghosts are everywhere — if their spiritual frequency matches yours, you will see them. Rubbing your eyes too hard will create that frequency. But I rubbed my eyes harder than usual, maybe if our frequency matches, I’ll see my grandmother once again.”
Library Shop SD invites writers of all ages to participate in the Matchbook Story Contest and share their spontaneous bursts of creativity in short-form writing. This year, nearly 250 writers submitted entries, which were judged by a panel composed of past Matchbook Story Contest winners.
The Matchbook Story Contest has a $5 entry fee for each submission. Because of the generous triple-match by Library Foundation SD Trustee Judith Wenker, this year’s competition raised nearly $5,000 for Library Foundation SD.
The Matchbook Story Contest started as an oddball challenge to fit a short story inside a book of matches. It has grown into one of Library Shop SD’s most popular programs, with library patrons and shop customers becoming collectors of each year’s limited-edition matchbooks.
