IHS International Haiku Competition 2013 Results

The Irish Haiku Society is proud to announce the results of the sixth IHS International Haiku Competition. 148 haiku by poets from eight countries/territories (Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and the USA) were submitted to this year's competition. It was adjudicated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, and was judged blindly. The following is the list of prize-winning and highly commended haiku.

1^st Prize

 John Barlow (England) receives the first prize of Euro 150 for the following haiku:

over the eggs
they laid too soon
late falling snow

2^nd Prize

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 50 goes to Quendryth Young (Australia) for the following haiku:

sun's out
a drop on the lily pad
changes to green

3^rd Prize

 
Scott Mason (New York, USA) and Ian Storr (England) each receive the third prize of Euro 30 for the following haiku:

 the faint melody
of a carousel
swirling leaves

 

winter's end
fence wire ripples
in the wake of a coot

(by Ian Storr)

  

  

Highly Commended Haiku

 
In alphabetical order:

 

Ernest Berry (New Zealand)

sacred ground
red geraniums
where they fell

  

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

jardin d'hiver
la balancelle de mon père
toujours grinçante

self-translation:

winter garden
my father's swing seat
still creaking

 

Robert Davey (England)

dawn grey
the scratch of a claw
from the sleeping dog

 

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

on the pine
a feather stiff with sleet
ice moon

 

Timothy Russell (USA)

anniversary...
a pinwheel on the next grave
suddenly starts up

 

Jennifer Sutherland (Australia)

dusk shadows
a peacock -
across the paddocks

 

 Quendryth Young (Australia)

spring birdsong
a common cuckoo
barges in

Tracy Davidson (England)

April showers
my inside-out umbrella
drowns a snail

 

Cathy Drinkwater Better (Pennsylvania, USA)

November dusk
a cloud of sparrows rounds
the weathered silo

 

Scott Mason (New York, USA)

end of summer
the busker's trouser cuffs
collect burs

 

Conor O'Neill (Ireland - Chile)

twilight
the late swallow passes
the first bat

 

Cynthia Rowe (New South Wales, Australia)

stone steps
an electric ant takes
the handrail

 

 Julie Warther (Ohio, USA)

spring equinox
chaise lounge claimed
by the swollen river

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Competition Rules in PDF format are available here

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2011 Results

  

The Irish Haiku Society is proud to announce the results of the fourth IHS International Haiku Competition. This year we saw a further increase in the number of participating authors. 232 haiku by poets from fourteen countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Romania, USA and Wales) were submitted to this year's competition in Category A. As for Category B open only for participants born or residing on the island of Ireland, we received 37 poems. Poets submitting their works in this category were expected to write about poverty and include reflections upon or references to "Poverty: punishment for a crime you didn't commit" (attributed to Eli Khamarov). This year's competition was adjudicated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, and it was judged blindly. The following is the list of prize-winning and highly commended haiku in both categories.

 

Category A 

1^st Prize

 Quendryth Young (Australia) receives the first prize of Euro 150 for the following haiku:

turning tide
the buoy bobs
sideways

2^nd Prize

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 50 goes to John Barlow (England) for the following haiku:

the windfalls
he gathered
gathering dusk

3^rd Prize

 
Bouwe Brouwer (the Netherlands) receives the third prize of Euro 30 for the following haiku:

 November rain -
the fence
around the ruin

  

Highly Commended Haiku

 
In alphabetical order:

 

Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand)

early dusk
the elderly sexton
wreathed in mist

  

Marion Clarke (Northern Ireland)

storm on the lough
streetlamps on Seaview
lit by sunrise

 

Beth McFarland (Northern Ireland - Germany)

laid at the feet
of a cat,
all the Alps

 

Peter Newton (USA)

first snow...
filling the emptiness
of a curled leaf

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

equinox
again you speak
of leaving

 

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

wild persimmon
autumn sun fills
the last leaf

 

 Priscilla Van Valkenburgh (USA)

island morning fog -
the spruce tree and wooden bench
web-connected

 

Category B 

 

1^st Prize

Clare McCotter (Co. Derry) receives the first prize of Euro 100 for the following haiku:

silver moon
climbing a scaffold of stars
unemployed builder

  

2^nd Prize

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 30 goes to Thomas Powell (Co. Armagh) for the following haiku:

 charity shop -
we debate the need
for a book on Gauguin

3^rd Prize

 Mary O'Keefe (Co. Cork) receives the third prize of Euro 20 for the following haiku: 

coffee morning
in the hull of her handbag
she stows her daughter's lunch

 
 

  
Highly Commended Haiku

In alphabetical order:

 

Clare McCotter (Co. Derry)

gold autumn dawn
melting over the fields
she once owned

Clare McCotter (Co. Derry)

rose dawn
pulled tight around
the bagwoman's shoulders

 

Beth McFarland (Co. Tyrone - Germany)

all the unborn children
cherry blossom
in the wind

 

Conor O'Neill (Co. Dublin - Chile)

outside the bank
a beggar's empty hands
counting raindrops

Thomas Powell (Co. Armagh)

work prospects...
I search the sky
for yesterday's swallows

 

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Competition Rules in PDF format are available here

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IHS International Haiku Competition 2010 Results

The Irish Haiku Society is proud to announce the results of the third IHS International Haiku Competition. This year we saw a further increase in the number of participating authors. 227 haiku by poets from eleven countries (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, England, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Romania) were submitted to this year's competition in Category A. As for Category B open only for participants born or residing on the island of Ireland, we received 87 poems. Poets submitting their works in this category were expected to write about Ireland in the changing world and include reflections upon or references to "what it means to live in Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century". This year's competition was adjudicated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, and it was judged blindly. The following is the list of prize-winning and highly commended haiku in both categories.

 

Category A 

1^st Prize

 Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand) receives the first prize of Euro 150 for the following haiku:

chill wind
the windowsill tomato
still warm

2^nd Prize

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 50 goes to John Barlow (England) for the following haiku:

  new year's snow
the tracks of creatures
that went by in the night

3^rd Prize

 
Catherine J. S. Lee (USA) receives the third prize of Euro 30 for the following haiku:

 mountain sunset
an eagle rides
the downslope wind

  

  

Highly Commended Haiku

 
In alphabetical order:

 

Cathy Drinkwater Better (USA)

crossroads
the wind takes my hair
the other way

  

Scott Mason (USA)

new moon
the night watchman
goes unseen

 

Maire Morrissey-Cummins (Ireland)

in the chair
the cat curls up
in my warmth

 

Peter Newton (USA)

where the maple stood
a shroud
of sunlight

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

the things
we never did
undertow

 

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

winter solstice
the barbed wire fence
furry with frost

 

 Eduard Tara (Romania)

Deireadh bliana -
tionlacann bád an abhainn
i dtreo na farraige

(year end
a boat accompanies
the river to the sea)

 

Category B 

 

1^st Prize

Clare McCotter (Co. Derry) receives the first prize of Euro 100 for the following haiku:

wakening
in a scullery of stars
the wino folds her home

  

2^nd Prize

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 30 goes to Cara Joy (Co. Kerry) for the following haiku:

 the small river flows
through the door of the valley
soon to be no more

3^rd Prize

 Maire Morrissey-Cummins (Co. Wicklow) receives the third prize of Euro 20 for the following haiku: 

on the motorway
abandoned cranes
among ghost estates

 
 

  
Highly Commended Haiku

In alphabetical order:

 

Susan Flynn (Co. Dublin)

memorial flowers
tied to the ash in full leaf
bowing and sighing

Clare McCotter (Co. Derry)

forty seven
and no pension
all the starry heavens

 

Hugh O'Donnell (Dublin)

recession
more tree
less leaf

 

Aoife Stephens (Co. Kerry)

despite all reports
of bleak and woeful stories
the sun still rises

   

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Competition Rules in PDF format are available here

The 2^nd Prize of Euro 50 goes to Scott Mason (USA) for the following haiku:

  receding surf...
for every clamshell
a sandy wake

 

3^rd Prize

 
John Barlow (England) receives the third prize of Euro30 for the following haiku:

 some in, some out
of the ebbing tide...
the morning oystercatchers

 

 
Highly Commended Haiku

 
In alphabetical order:

 

Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand)

September wind
a better view
of compost bins

 

Clare McCotter (Northern Ireland)

stooping on the edge
of autumn
purple river grass

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

country fair
cornsilk at the feet
of the hucksters

 

Cynthia Rowe (Australia)

spring equinox
two pines leaning
into each other

 

Andre Surridge (New Zealand)

end of a stalk
the caterpillar climbs
a ladder of air

 

Ian Turner (England)

sun fringed clouds
a carrion crow struts
from sleeper to sleeper

 

 Andrena Yeats (England)

horses stand in morning frost
one apart stares
at the space between

as

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as

177 haiku by poets from twelve countries (Ireland, UK, Northern Ireland, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Romania and Serbia) were submitted to the first ever IHS International Haiku Competition competition. Half of them were from the island  of Ireland. That year's competition was adjudicated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky, and it was judged blindly. It had been previously announced that an entrant may win more than one prize, which, actually, happened. The following is the list of prize-winning and highly commended haiku.

 1^st Prize

 
John Barlow (England) receives the first prize of Euro 150 for the following haiku:

 

mountain stillness
an empty chrysalis
fills with sunlight

 

 

2^nd Prize

 
The 2^nd Prize of Euro 50 also goes to John Barlow (England) for the following haiku:

 

 summer morning
every other post
has its crow

 

 

3^rd Prize

 
Ernest J. Berry (New Zealand) receives the third prize of Euro 30 for the following haiku:

 

early frost
the fragrance of pine
on fire

 

 
Highly Commended Haiku

 
In alphabetical order:

 
 

John Barlow (England)

 
cold rain...
the fishermen wade deeper
into the lake

 

Sharon Dean (Australia)

 
winter chill
a bull ant climbs
the flame tree

 

 

Walter Daniel McGuire (Ireland)

 
autumn breeze -
spider's web
convex... concave

 

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

 
 
the open gate
to an empty field -
country graveyard

 

 

Roland Packer (Canada)

Christmas Eve
swaddled in the busker's case
a fiddle

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The results of the IHS haiku competitions held after 2013 are here.

Graphic art by Elena Katsuba

© Elena Katsuba, 2005

 

 
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