In recent months, one of my haiku received an Honourable Mention in a Croatian haiku competition while another received an Honourable Mention in an Irish contest.
With a number of countries now running competitions for haiku written in English, I thought it might be helpful to provide links to various of these competition websites. Please see the list below.
My haiku from the 2021 Little Iris Haiku Contest (Croatia) was:
pastel sunrise
the soft cover
of this book
While my haiku from the 2021 Irish Haiku Society Competition was:
brewing tea
night and day
become one
The list below excludes haiku competitions from Japan, as I’ve provided links to several of these competitions in an earlier post. You can see my post on Japanese haiku competitions here.
While the following list is quite extensive, I don’t claim that it’s fully comprehensive. From year to year, a new competition might commence, while an existing competition might cease to operate. So, please always check the current timeframes and submission guidelines with the competition’s own website before submitting any entries.
This list does, nevertheless, provide access to many of the best known English-language haiku competitions around the world. The list is presented alphabetically by location and contest name. Best of luck with any entries you might submit.
Australia: Creatrix Haiku Prize
Australia: John Bird Dreaming Award
Bulgaria: Maya Lyubenova International Haiku Contest
Canada: The Betty Drevniok Award
Canada: Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival: Haiku Invitational
Croatia: Little Iris Haiku Contest
Ireland: Irish Haiku Society International Haiku Competition
New Zealand (Open and Junior categories): New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Competition
Poland: Polish International Haiku Competition
Romania: Sharpening the Green Pencil International Haiku Contest
UK: British Haiku Society Awards
USA: Autumn Moon Haiku Contest
USA: Francine Porad Award
USA: Golden Haiku Poetry Contest
USA (Open and Junior categories): Haiku Society of America Haiku and Senryu Awards
USA: Kaji Aso Studio Haiku Contest
USA: Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award
USA: Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards
USA: The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Awards
Links to haiku competitions in Japan can be found here.
Haiku Competitions in Japan
Many organisations in Japan conduct haiku competitions and, given the world-wide popularity of the genre, several competitions invite haiku written in the English language (several links to these competitions are provided at the end of this post). I was fortunate to have two haiku recognised in recent Japanese contests: the Basho-an International English Haiku Competition…
How To Write Haiku
Haiku are marvellous little poems. Originating in Japan, and now enjoyed around the world, haiku provide moments of insight that surprise and delight. People often ask how they can learn to write haiku. How they can grasp the principles that have underpinned the development of haiku in Japan for hundreds of years. Fortunately, there are…
Gregory Piko 