By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor
Bay Shore Neighborhood Library wants to uncover the stories of the Belmont Shore/Naples area.
To do so, the library on the corner of Second Street and Bay Shore Avenue is having a writing and oral history contest.
To enter, people may write either a true or fictional story about the southeast Long Beach neighborhoods and/or submit a visual, audio or written oral history of a resident. Deadline is April 6.
The contest is part of the library’s involvement in the California Council for the Humanities’ statewide California Stories Uncovered program, which aims to highlight the contribution writers have made and continue to make in revealing the true California.
Bay Shore was one of three Long Beach public libraries to apply for a grant from the project. Main, Burnett and Bay Shore each received $1,000 to put on programs centered on the theme of telling the stories of California’s communities.
It was the community aspect that attracted Bay Shore Branch Librarian Cliff Phillips to the project.
“What interested me was just trying to put on a community event,” he said.
Organizing discussions of the project’s anthology of California writers, “California Uncovered: Stories of the 21st Century,” was a natural choice and one encouraged by California Council for the Humanities.
The library already has hosted one discussion and has planned two more for March 26 and April 6.
Phillips said that first discussion was very lively.
“People were very interested in learning different views from different writers from different backgrounds,” he said. “They were also happy to discover new California writers.”
Contests are something CCH has incorporated into California Stories Uncovered statewide programs.
Having one locally that focused on Belmont Shore and Naples stories made sense to Phillips given the historical significance of 2005.
“When someone mentioned Stan Poe (Naples resident and historian) was going to be doing presentations about Naples history and that it was Naples’ centennial, that just put it all together,” he said. “It was a good tie in.”
The result was a special event at the library on April 23 that will feature a presentation by Poe on the history of the area — complete with photo illustrations — and the winning entries of the contest.
But there’s something needed in order to have winners, Phillips said.
“We need people to enter first for there to be winners, I suppose,” Phillips laughed.
Fiction or nonfiction stories must be three pages in length (double-spaced typed in Microsoft Word or Publisher) and must relate to Belmont Shore or Naples. Oral histories must be three pages if written or 15 minutes long in audio or visual formats. The interview must be of a Belmont Shore or Naples resident. The contest is open to high school-aged youth and adults.
“It could be an oral history of themselves,” Phillips said of potential contestants. “We’re trying to give people a lot of options.”
First, second and third place winners in each category will receive a gift certificate for $75, $50 and $35, respectively, to a local bookstore.
Entry forms and more information about the contest and California Stories Uncovered programs are available at the library, 195 Bay Shore Ave., or by calling 570-1039.
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