Administrator,
The IHS International Haiku Competition 2023
75 Willow Park Grove
Glasnevin
Dublin 11
D11 VK85
Ireland

or ihshaikucompetition[at]gmail[dot]com

 

The Rules of the Competition

1.      Entrants may submit an unlimited number of haiku/senryu in any language. 

2.      A haiku/senryu written in Irish (Gaelic), or in a foreign language, should be submitted accompanied by an English translation of the haiku on the same list. These translations cannot be made by the adjudicator of the competition or edited by him.

3.      Haiku by international and Irish poets, including members of the IHS, are eligible for the competition. Haiku by the members of the Board of the IHS are not eligible.

4.      Each haiku must be accompanied by a fee of Euro 3, or £2.50 sterling, or USA $3. Or with each seven haiku: Euro 19, or £16 sterling, or $20. Methods of payment: personal cheques, International Bank Drafts or postal/money orders in Euro, or U.K Sterling, or US Dollars only, are acceptable and should be made payable to The Irish Haiku Society. No other cheques/ International Bank Drafts/ postal/money orders can be accepted. Entrants in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries should send Euro, US, Sterling  banknotes, unless they have an Ireland-, US- or UK-based bank account. Please do not send coins.  PayPal payments can be made via ihshaikucompetition[at]gmail[dot]com For that, please create an account with http://www.paypal.com, then click "Send Money" in the menu bar at the top of the page - and send the required amount of money to ihshaikucompetition[at]gmail[dot]com You can link your Paypal account to your bank account and transfer some money onto it before you make this payment.

5.      Haiku/senryu of 17 syllables or fewer are eligible for the competition. Free-form and experimental haiku are also welcome. All haiku must be the original work of a living author. They must not have been previously published, self-published, published on an edited or unedited website, or have won a prize, or Honourable Mention, at a haiku contest.

6.      The poems must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. Each haiku must be submitted on a separate sheet of paper, or e-mailed to the competition administrator as a MS Word file attached to your e-mail. E-mail submissions can be made via ihshaikucompetition[at]gmail[dot]com

7.      The haiku and payment should be firmly attached to the entry form/covering letter. The name of the entrant must not appear on the poems themselves (or in the file attached to the e-mail).

8.      Contestants are asked to provide a covering letter with their Name, Address, Phone Number, E-mail address, Date of Birth, Nationality, Occupation, any Haiku group affiliation and the first lines of their poems. This information can be included in the body of the e-mail but not in the attached file. The name of the translator(s), if any, must also appear in the covering letter but not on the poems themselves.

9.      No alterations can be made to the haiku once it has been submitted, and it is regretted that no entries can be returned.

10. Haiku cannot be submitted via the adjudicator of the competition. Any attempt to contact the adjudicator of the competition in relation to it, no matter if it is on Facebook, via his personal e-mail or the IHS e-mail, will result in immediate disqualification.

11. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence can be entered into regarding those decisions.

 

Submission of haiku implies the competitor's acceptance of the conditions set out above.

The prize-winners will be announced in January 2024 and subsequently awarded. A list of the prize-winners will be posted up on the IHS website as soon as they are announced.

Copyright will remain with the competitors, but the Irish Haiku Society reserves the right to arrange first publication or broadcast of selected haiku as it sees fit.

 

 Adjudicator

Anatoly Kudryavitsky is the editor of Shamrock Haiku Journal and the founding Chairman of the Irish Haiku Society. His haiku collections include  Morning at Mount Ring (2007), Capering Moons (2011), Horizon (2016), and Ten Thousand Birds (2020). His haiku have received awards in Ireland, Japan, USA, Italy, Croatia, Romania and Canada, were published in the main haiku magazines and widely anthologised.

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2022 Results

1st Prize

starless night
the glitter
of a million pixels

Jay Friedenberg (USA)

2nd Prize

out of the year's last dusk a final line of swans

John Barlow (England)

3rd Prizes:

rock pool
a starfish brightens
to the clearing sky

Simon Hanson (Australia)

sudden wind
crop duster
misses target

Noel King (Ireland)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

floating world a ripple crosses the clouds

Cynthia Anderson (USA)

cliff edge —
a burning sky
behind us

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

seafood café
corners of the water tank
aslant with lobsters

Michael Dudley (Canada)

endless day...
a puffy cloud shapes
the present

Jennifer Hambrick (USA)

sturgeon moon
the way an osprey
shapes a swoop

Richard L. Matta (USA)

moonrise at Balrath —
a whisper of horses
in the paddock

Hugh O'Donnell (Ireland)

between wind gusts
just time enough
for leaves to settle

Adelaide B. Shaw (Australia)

solstice fire
the dispersed flames
of cardinals

Debbie Strange (Canada)

Many congratulations to the worthy winners, and many thanks to everybody who submitted their work to this contest!

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2021 Results

1st Prize

fireflies the synchronicity of it all

Debbie Strange (Canada)

2nd Prize

old battlefield
a farmer's plough
digs new trenches

Jay Friedenberg (USA)

3rd Prizes

In alphabetical order:

cradled in my hands the weight of a snipe

John Barlow (England)

first frost
another billion galaxies
in the burning bush

Jennifer Hambrick (USA)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

deep forest
the dance of a pine branch
after the crow

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

my kite
without the strings
lost childhood

Alvin Cruz (Philippines)

spring day
a dog sits
guarding the universe

Brendan Duffin (Ireland)

thicket
a hermit thrush reveals
only its song

Seren Fargo (USA)

the rusting hulk
returns to earth
grain by grain

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

distant hills
the smell of an old tent
in summer heat

Frank Hooven (USA)

alpine meadow
the sky descends
into gentians

Marietta McGregor (Australia)

thunder
the rattle of a coin
in the beggar's cup

Mark Miller (Australia)

early nightfall
lights in the basement flat's
toy village

Roland Packer (Canada)



brewing tea
night and day
become one

Greg Piko (Australia)

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2020 Results

1st Prize

bracket fungus
a fallen beech softens
into its future

Marietta McGregor (Australia)

2nd Prize

heavy mist
the mountain appears
pine by pine

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

3rd Prizes:

the dark pool
the blue of glowworms
above and below

Simon Hanson (Australia)

storm hour
the cliff's face carved
a little deeper

Debbie Strange (Canada)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

across the whitsun edgelands a path of flattened grass

John Barlow (England)

first touch
the soft flesh of
persimmon harvest

Erin Castaldi (USA)

the cleared pond more sky falls into it

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

swifts at sunset
the river
meets the breeze

Frank Hooven (USA)

on the bank
a heron and his reflection
fishing together

Hugh O'Donnell (Ireland)

a duck
looks at the moon
floating egg

Greg Piko (Australia)

thunder
a pod of grackles
explodes the tree

David Watts (USA)

housebound...
hearing the sea
in the trees

Tony Williams (Scotland)

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World Children's Haiku Contest 2019-2020 Winners

JAL GRAND PRIX:
Sean Maher, Dublin City, age 13

The judges were of the opinion that the further two works were of considerable merit, and so awarded two JAL Prizes:

JAL PRIZE (in alphabetical order):
Julie O'Brien, Co. Kildare, age 11; Mark O'Machain, Co. Tipperary, age 11.

The winning poems will soon be awailable for viewing on the JAL Foundation website.

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World Children's Haiku Contest 2019-2020

The contest is held by JAL Foundation, Japan, in cooperation with the Irish Haiku Society. Contestants must be aged under 15 on 29th February 2020. Each haiku must be an original and unpublished work by the child himself/herself. Assistance of others is prohibited. The haiku must be accompanied by a hand-drawn or hand-crafted artwork appearing on the same page of an A4 sheet of paper (21cm x 29.7cm). Glue the application form to the back of the artwork. The winning haiku will appear in the book titled Haiku by World Children, Vol. 16. Topic: "Sports"

 Deadline:

All the entries shall be postmarked by 29th Febuary 2020.

Address for Entries:

Administrator,
World Children's Haiku Contest 2019-2020
75 Willow Park Grove
Glasnevin
Dublin 11
D11 VK85
Ireland

More detailed Rules are available here. The Application Form is available here. Queries: irishhaikusociety[at]gmail[dot]com

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2019 Results

1st Prize

moonlit pier
the stars lost
and found

Frank Hooven (USA)

2nd Prize

subterranean river
the long journey
suddenly moonlit

Simon Hanson (Australia)

3rd Prizes:

in a chink of darkness a single white egg

John Barlow (England)

night sky
the sound of a song
before it's sung

Glenn G. Coats (USA)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

frolicking fox cub
the grass spangled
with morning

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

between two hills
calls
of the coyote

Seren Fargo (USA) 

autumn fog
the lost and found contours
of the old stone wall

Jay Friedenberg (USA)  

clearwater stream glassfish filled with light

Simon Hanson (Australia)

winter whiteout
the yellow eyes
of a snowy owl

Gary Hittmeyer (USA) 

wild lavender
all the fussiness
of honeybees

Mark Miller (Australia)

after the rain
sun-filled
potholes

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

soft rime
a chickadee's song
becomes visible

Debbie Strange (Canada)

a shapeless day
sizzles of slow snow
on the water

Ian Turner (England)

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2018 Results

1st Prize

equinox
the leaf scent half bitter
half sweet

Scott Mason (USA)

2nd Prize

beyond the reach of light luminous fish

Simon Hanson (Australia)

3rd Prizes:

the river
smoothing river stones
winter moon

John Barlow (England)

dead orchard
the random blue sparks
of woolly aphids

Debbie Strange (Canada)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

on every stem
of the seed-spent umbel
a cluster of frost

John Barlow (England)

a palomino
flicks her tail...
new foal's first breath

Tracy Davidson (England)

falling
through serrated leaves
tatters of light

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

ullchabhán réisc
san aer feanntach –
ciúnas

(short-eared owl
in the chilly air –
silence)

Susan Flynn (Ireland)

warming tidal pool
a starfish creeps
deeper into shadow

Jay Friedenberg (USA)

a grub in the bark
the wattlebird's beak
at the ready

Gregory Piko (Australia)

tire swing
the memories
we cling to

Greg Schwartz (USA)

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World Children's Haiku Contest 2017-2018

 

JAL GRAND PRIX (in alphabetical order):
Roisin Beazley, Co. Kerry, age 8; Ellie Geary, Co. Limerick, age 13; Fionn Kearney, Co. Cork, age 13; Lorraine O'Shea, Co.Cork, age 13.

The judges were of the opinion that the further four works were of considerable merit, and so awarded four JAL Prizes:

JAL PRIZE (in alphabetical order):
Noelle McCarthy, Co. Cork, age 12; Duaa Aziza Rejeb, Dublin City, age 6; Orestis Smalis, Co. Limerick, age 12; Sinéad Ward, Co. Limerick, age 13.

The winning poems are awailable for viewing on the JAL Foundation website.

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2017 Results

1st Prize

sunrise
all these little fires
in the frost

Simon Hanson (Australia)

2nd Prize

endless heather first scent of the sea

Scott Mason (USA)

3rd Prize

almost dusk
far from the shore
a small paper boat

Ann Magyar (USA)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

making no headway
in the tipping rain
the wind-blown crow

John Barlow (England)

river wind
the sting
of sulfur rain

Chris Bays (USA)

vapour trails
a roaring horse
becomes unicorn 

Tracy Davidson (England)  

slime trails
a tale
of two snails

Jay Friedenberg (USA)

over the last hill
the sun melts
into golden red

Mercy Ikuri (Kenya)

sunset
darkness settles
on an owl

Gregory Longenecker (USA)

river bend the curve of a raven's cry

Gregory Piko (Australia)

new moon tide
sandpiper takes
a longer U-turn

Srinivasa Rao Sambangi (India)

snowy field
the owls we thought
were stones

Debbie Strange (Canada)

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2016 Results

1st Prize

equinox
the weight
of dying light

Gregory Longenecker (USA)

2nd Prize

coastal beach, crabs catching the wave home

Mercy Ikuri (Kenya)

3rd Prize:

nightswim
in mountain water
touch of the moon

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

turtle rain
grass root nudging
a half-buried egg

Bill Cooper (USA)

warm breeze
a deaf man
and his blind dog

Ignatius Fay (Canada)

between fence rails
an orb weaver
graphing the breeze

Scott Mason (USA)

heartland
a road sign above
the floodwater

Roland Packer (Canada) 

ebb tide
turtle hatchlings
chase the sea

Christina Sng (Singapore) 

nothing planted
in the garden this year...
wild strawberries!

Richard St. Clair (USA) 

this autumn
a willow
weeping gold

Steve Tabb (USA) 

all the things
I never told you &ndasg;
fallen leaves

Juliet Wilson (Scotland)

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World Children's Haiku Contest 2015-2016

JAL GRAND PRIX (in alphabetical order):

Chantelle Esper (15) Riverchapel, Co. Wexford; Athalia Fubara (14) Foxrock, Dublin 18; Niamh O'Farrell-Tyler (15) Blackrock, Co. Dublin; Emma O'Mahony (12) Killaloe, Co Clare.

The judges were of the opinion that the further four works were of considerable merit, and so awarded four JAL Prizes:

JAL PRIZE (in alphabetical order): Roisin Beazley (6) Killarney, Co. Kerry; Jessica Lawrence (11) Scotstown, Co. Monaghan; Briana Mac Cinna (10) Scotstown, Co. Monaghan; Dylan Walsh (13) Limerick.

The winning poems are awailable on the JAL Foundation website.

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2015 Results

1st Prize

late afternoon
a rabbit
sniffs the sun

Scott Mason (USA)

2nd Prize

forest mist...
a single bee fills
the stillness

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

Two poets receive the 3rd Prize:

July morning
fire-ants pour
from the faucet

Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand)

rocky ledge
a wolf with the moon
in its mouth

Debbie Strange (Canada)

Honourable Mentions

In alphabetical order:

bend of the river
a heron's shadow
stretches southwest

John Barlow (England)

Crete dusk
between the shore's rocks
squid eye

Martin Cohen (USA)

glinting off snow
a skater's blade
cuts through the silence

Tracy Davidson (England)

mountainside
waterfall pours
colonnade of light

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

thunderheads
a cowrie's mantle
purple-flushed

Marietta McGregor (Australia)

empty ocean
the shearwater's belly
catches the sun

Greg Piko (Australia)

winter's afternoon
a golden pheasant weaves
through bamboo

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

autumn wind &ndasg;
ten thousand shimmering stars
viewed from a wave crest

William Seltzer (USA)

  

sunset valley
a line of merinos
melds into the gold

Barbara A. Taylor (Australia)

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2014 Results

1st Prize

Anton Floyd (Ireland)

waiting
in the sheaths of ice
blades of grass

2nd Prize

John Barlow (England)

places I'll never see
the backlit wings
of migrating geese

3rd Prize

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland) and Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

reflection
in this oyster shell
pearl moon

(by Marion Clarke)

 

spring shower
a peacock sips pinkness
from the bromeliad

(by Cynthia Rowe)

 

Highly Commended Haiku

In alphabetical order:

 

Glenn G. Coats (USA)

mouth of the river
I dream with my cousin
boat to boat

  

Tracy Davidson (England)

empty jam jar
the tadpoles
in the u-bend

Jan Dobb (Australia)

no clouds
a wind in the sheoaks
shuffles bits of blue

 

Seren Fargo (USA)

loon call  the stillness of the lake

Scott Mason (USA)

flashes of lightning
across the pasture –
sheared sheep

 

Jan O'Loughlin, Australia

half light
not knowing what today
will bring

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

winter commute
the face of a missing child
exits

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The results of the IHS haiku competitions held in 2013 and earlier are here.

Graphic art by Elena Katsuba

© Elena Katsuba, 2005

 

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