The Annual Haiku Society of America Haiku Award
in honor of Harold G. Henderson
Deadline: Contest opens June 1 - closes June 30, 2026.
Eligibility: The contest is open to the public. HSA officers who are members of the executive committee are not eligible, but regional coordinators may enter.
Regulations: Work entered must be unpublished and not under consideration for publication or other contests. Publication is defined as an appearance in a printed or online book, magazine, or journal that presents edited content. The appearance of poems in online discussion lists, personal websites, or social media posts is not considered publication.
Work containing discriminatory language against any race, religion, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or ancestry or work that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated writing will not be considered.
Submission:
1. With payment of a flat entry fee of $5 for HSA members or $10 for non-members, you may enter up to five haiku. You may enter a maximum of five times (total 25 haiku) during the submission window.
HSA Haiku Entry Paypal Payment Button:
2. After making your payment by Paypal, you will receive an email receipt of payment. Enter the Transaction ID number along with your other information into this Google form:
<Haiku Contest Submission>.
If you do not have a Paypal account, you may send a check to the address below, noting "HSA haiku contest" on the check. In the Google form, in place of the Transaction ID, note "check sent."
Snail Mail Process (available for HSA members, and only if you do not have access to email):
1. Write a check to “Haiku Society of America” with entry payment of $5.
2. Type your 5 haiku (or fewer) entries with your full name and postal address all on one page.
3. Send your check and entries to:
Gary Hotham
10460 Stansfield Road
Scaggsville, MD 20723
USA
If the contest fee represents a financial hardship, or if none of the payment options offered are feasible in your country of residence, please contact the contest coordinator.
Adjudication: The names of the judge(s) will be announced after the contest.
Awards: First Prize, $200; Second Prize, $150; Third Prize, $100. Winning haiku will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA Web site.
Rights: All rights revert to the authors after publication.
~ ~ ~
To see the winning haiku for 2025 and the judges' commentary:
HSA Haiku Awards 2025
See the entire collection of past award haiku:
HSA Haiku Competition Collection
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The Annual Haiku Society of America Senryu Award
Deadline: Contest opens June 1 - closes June 30, 2026.
Eligibility: The contest is open to the public. HSA officers who are members of the executive committee are not eligible, but regional coordinators may enter.
Regulations:Work entered must be unpublished and not under consideration for publication or other contests. Publication is defined as an appearance in a printed or online book, magazine, or journal that presents edited content. The appearance of poems in online discussion lists, personal websites, or social media posts is not considered publication.
Work containing discriminatory language against any race, religion, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or ancestry or work that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated writing will not be considered.
Submission:
1. With payment of a flat entry fee of $5 for HSA members or $10 for non-members, you may enter up to five senryu. You may enter a maximum of five times (total 25 senryu) during the submission window.
HSA Senryu Entry Paypal Payment Button:
2. After making your payment by Paypal, you will receive an email receipt of payment. Enter the Transaction ID number along with your other information into this Google form:
<Senryu Contest Submission>.
If you do not have a Paypal account, you may send a check to the address below, noting "HSA senryu contest" on the check. In the Google form, in place of the Transaction ID, note "check sent."
Snail Mail Process (available for HSA members only, and only if you do not have access to email):
1. Write a check to “Haiku Society of America” with entry payment of $5.
2. Type your 5 (or fewer) entries with your full name and postal address all on one page.
3. Send your check and entries to:
Gary Hotham
10460 Stansfield Road
Scaggsville, MD 20723
USA
If the contest fee represents a financial hardship, or if none of the payment options offered are feasible in your country of residence, please contact the contest coordinator.
Adjudication: The names of the judge(s) will be announced after the contest.
Awards: First Prize, $200; Second Prize, $150; Third Prize, $100. Winning senryu will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA Web site.
Rights: All rights revert to the authors after publication.
~ ~ ~
To see the winning senryu for 2025 and the judges' commentary:
HSA Senryu Award 2025
See the entire collection of past award senryu:
HSA Senryu Competition Collection
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The Annual Haiku Society of America Haibun Award
Deadline: Contest opens June 1 - closes June 30, 2026.
Eligibility: The contest is open to the public. HSA officers who are members of the executive committee are not eligible, but regional coordinators may enter.
Regulations: Work entered must be unpublished and not under consideration for publication or other contests. Publication is defined as an appearance in a printed or online book, magazine, or journal that presents edited content. The appearance of poems in online discussion lists, personal websites, or social media posts is not considered publication.
Work containing discriminatory language against any race, religion, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or ancestry or work that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated writing will not be considered.
Submission:
1. With payment of a flat entry fee of $5 for HSA members or $10 for non-members, you may enter up to three haibun.
HSA Haibun Entry Paypal Payment Button:
2. After making your payment by Paypal, you will receive an email receipt of payment. Enter the Transaction ID number along with your other information into this Google form:
<Haibun Contest Submission>
If you do not have a Paypal account, you may send a check to the address below, noting "HSA haibun contest" on the check. In the Google form, in place of the Transaction ID, note "check sent."
Snail Mail Process (available for HSA members only, and only if you do not have access to email):
1. Write a check to “Haiku Society of America” with entry payment of $5.
2. Type your 3 (or fewer) haibun entries, along with your full name and postal address on each page.
3. Send your check and entries to:
Gary Hotham
10460 Stansfield Road
Scaggsville, MD 20723
USA
If the contest fee represents a financial hardship, or if none of the payment options offered are feasible in your country of residence, please contact the contest coordinator.
Adjudication: The names of the judge(s) will be announced after the contest.
Awards: First Prize, $200; Second Prize, $150; Third Prize, $100. Winning haibun will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA Web site.
Rights: All rights revert to the authors after publication.
~ ~ ~
To see the award haibun for 2025 and the judges' commentary:
HSA Haibun Awards 2025
See the entire collection of past award haibun:
HSA Haibun Competition Collection
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The Annual Haiku Society of America Rengay Award in Honor of Garry Gay
Submission Period: April 1 - May 31, 2026. Closed for 2026.
Eligibility: The contest is open to the public. HSA officers who are members of the executive committee are not eligible, but regional coordinators may enter.
Adjudication: The names of judges will be announced along with the winning entries.
Awards: First Prize, $200; Second Prize, $150; Third Prize, $100. Winning rengay will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA website. All rights revert to authors on publication.
see the
2025 Rengay Awards
For an anthology of past winners, visit the Haiku Society of America Rengay Award Collection: HSA Rengay Competition Collection
Note to prospective rengay contestants: The following essays provide invaluable information and inspiration:
"The Rengay Verse Form" by Joan Zimmerman:
http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/rengay.htm
"Rengay: An Introduction" by Michael Dylan Welch:
https://www.rengay.com/rengay-essays/learning-rengay/rengay-an-introduction
"Give Rengay A Try" by Michael Dylan Welch:
https://www.rengay.com/rengay-essays/learning-rengay/give-rengay-a-try
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The Haiku Society of America Renku Award in memorial of Bernard Lionel Einbond
HSA Renku Award Contest: suspended until further notice.
See the entire collection of past award renku:
HSA Renku Competition Collection
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The Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Student Haiku and Senryu Competition for Grades 7-12
Founded by the Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ, and co-sponsored by the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association in memory of Nicholas A. Virgilio, a charter member of the Haiku Society of America, who died in 1989. The Haiku Society of America is also a co-sponor of the contest, providing judges, and publishing the results in Frogpond and on the HSA Web site.
Virgilio Student Haiku Contest:
Submissions are now closed for 2026
Deadline for submissions was March 20, 2026.
Entries received after that date will not be accepted.
See the 2026 award winning haiku!
Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial
Student Haiku and Senryu Competition Collection
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The Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards
The purpose of the Haiku Society of America's Merit Book Awards is to recognize the best haiku and related books of haiku published in a given year in the English language. Every year sees a fresh crop of fine individual collections, anthologies, translations, critical studies and innovative forms. In the past, the HSA Merit Book awards were partially supported by a memorial gift. Leroy Kanterman, cofounder of the Haiku Society of America, made a gift to support the first place award in memory of his wife Mildred Kanterman. See the archives of Merit Book Awards.
See the listing of all awards for books published in 2024
at this page:
Merit Book Awards 2024
2024 HSA Merit Book Awards Judges' Commentaries
will be published at FROGPOND first, then on the web site.
Deadline:
HSA Merit Book Awards for next year: submit books by February 15, 2027.
Submission of haiku books published in 2026
may be submitted after January 1, 2027.
Haiku books published with a 2024 copyright date were submitted between January 1, 2026 and by February 15, 2026.
American Haiku Archives:
The official archives of the Haiku Society of America are with the American Haiku Archives (AHA) at the California State Library in Sacramento, California. AHA was founded in 1996, and is the world's largest public archive of haiku and related poetry outside Japan. All HSA publications are deposited to the archives, as are submissions to the Merit Book Awards. The HSA encourages all its members to deposit their papers, correspondence, and other haiku-related materials and books (if not already in the collection) with the archives. For more information, visit the AHA site at <http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org> (click the How to Donate option).
To see past winners, visit the archive of Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards.
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The Best of Issue Frogpond Award Sponsored by the
Museum of Haiku Literature
This award is sponsored by the Museum of Haiku Literature in Tokyo. A single best-of-issue haiku in each issue of Frogpond will be awarded a cash prize. Award-winning haiku are chosen by the HSA Executive Committee from those published in each issue of Frogpond and are announced in the following issue. These haiku will also be published on the HSA Web site.
To see an anthology of past winners, visit the Best of Issue Frogpond Award Collection.
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