HSA Haiku Awards 2024
Judged by
P.H. Fischer & Annette Makino
Judges Commentary~ First Place ~
blue skies—
finding the nowhere
I'd rather beMatthew Markworth, OH, USA
~ Second Place ~
first fireflies
the little boy
in my voiceFrank Hooven, PA, USA
~ Third Place ~
spring equinox
a canoe flipped
upside upMatthew Markworth, OH, USA
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HSA Senryu Awards 2024
Judged by
Bill Cooper & Helen Ogden
Judges CommentaryFirst Place
garden clean-up
one invasive species
roots out anotherBrad Bennett, MA, USA
Second Place
water park grand opening
a toddler finds
the puddleMatthew Markworth, OH, USA
Third Place
“on your left”
the Progressive Bike Club
out for a rideDavid Green, IL, US
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HSA Haibun Awards 2024
Judged by
Peter Newton & Barbara Sabol
Judges Commentary
First Place:
by Dylan Stover, OH, USA
heartwood
for David "Woody" Stover
It began with a young beech tree on a windy day, mid-spring. Acting upon an impulse I cannot now explain, I pressed my ear to the smooth, gray bark and started listening. To my surprise, there was sound: a secret inner creaking, like a stifled moan, as the crown twisted in the breeze. It was voice—tree voice. Each limb, as it swayed high in the canopy, was sending reverberations down through the acoustic body of the tree and into my ear as I crouched patiently at its side.
hand at my chest
the doctor suspects
a murmurThat’s when I became a listener of trees: I quickly discovered that smooth bark was best; the thicker the cork layer, the fainter the sound. Lithe ones were more melodious, aged ones more laconic, terse. But all speaking.
Then one day I noticed a pileated woodpecker hammering away in the upper branches of an ash tree. Sneaking up to the bole, I put my ear against the bark: ta-tum ta-tum ta-a-TUM ta-tum… The wood trembled at each jab. Even the scrapes of the bird’s claws were amplified: every movement echoed inside me, as if the bird, the tree, and I were unified in a single, ringing vibration.a simple procedure
to remove the weevil
—then silence~ ~ ~
Second Place:
by Dian Duchin Reed, CA, USA
What I'm Doing on My Summer Vacation
My yard is not very big, but it’s big enough to shelter a million ants, keep the bees in business, and lure hummingbirds down to flirt with red flowers.
Who knew that aphids came in a rainbow of colors? When I sit still, I might see a gopher pushing dirt out of its hole, then taking a break while its head soaks in the warmth of the sun. I’m learning the towhee’s cat alarm and the crows’ hawk taunts. I sometimes hear coyotes singing along with a passing siren.
Did I mention the opossum babies who ride on their mother’s back at dawn? The skunk’s evening saunter? School’s about to start, and I haven’t even scratched the surface. The millipedes and Jerusalem crickets will have to wait till next summer.the mockingbird
plays its whole repertoire
endless afternoon~ ~ ~
Third Place:
by J Hahn Doleman, CA, USA
True Places Never Are
Lighter than a tuft of seafoam, yet tasting heavy as iron, this palmful of mycelium dust dissolves on my tongue as we trudge across an ancient caldera high above the territory of mapped consciousness.
thinning air
an obsidian cairn
warm to the touchUnder the retreating sun, still shining like a new doubloon, our breath becomes visible as we follow the lost footsteps of Klamath and Paiute. Traversing the first sequence of switchbacks, a jagged mountain scrimshaw leading to the summit, our boots awaken prehistoric ghosts beneath the crunch and scuttle of igneous rock. On one flank of the volcano, bleached skeletons of mountain hemlock blur into a Danse Macabre, their trunks swaying like mizzen masts in a typhoon. A whale-sized andesite obelisk crests above us, spouting luminescent fractals from an invisible blowhole.
the universe still expanding rhyolite fragments
This white-haired alp appears to slumber as gusts of wind from an invisible, eternal Victrola play across its skin, spinning out records of our past. We test our sea legs on the glacier, a frozen brig drifting within its own concept of time, as meltwater runoff rushes its way to the ocean and a world we will never quite fathom.
open crevasse
a Pandora moth
enshrined in ice~ ~ ~
HSA Rengay Awards 2024
Judged by
Billie Dee & Richard L. Matta
Judges Commentary2024 First Place
Ding Dong Ding
white coral bells —
those endless rounds we sang
as childrenstill wanting to believe
life is but a dreamthe third blind mouse
suddenly
able to seethe fuzziness
between sleep and wakefulness
morning bells are ringingthe farmer’s wife pauses
to catch her breathwarm breeze . . .
cherry petals drift
gently down the streamAngela Terry 1, 3 & 5
Julie Schwerin 2, 4 & 6
2024 Second Place
Post Roe
without her
bindweed starts
to floweruntil the smell
mousetraps forgottenmigrations
a monarch stops
in the purple asterfront porch
a dish of water
for the straystrust the barn light
to cross the prairiefar back pasture
a young cow
drops her calfDan Schwerin 1, 3 & 5
Julie Schwerin 2, 4 & 6
2024 Third Place
Blow on By
whoosh of wind
a crimson leaf lands
in a new yeararound the corner
unseen chimescool breeze
the scattering scraps
of a torn lettersharp screech
high above the well pump
metal blades wheelorigami cranes
fly in the swift draftin the garden
a whirligig cardinal
wings spinningEavonka Ettinger 1, 3 & 5
Annie Holdren 2, 4 & 6
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Haiku Society of America Merit Books Awards 2024
for books published in 2023Laurie D. Morrissey and Elliot Nicely, judges
(judges commentary to be published
in Frogpond then on the web site)HAIKU BOOK AWARDS:
First Place
Beverly Acuff Momoi. How the Wind Sighs. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2023
Second Place
Kristen Lindquist. Island. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2023
Third Place
James Roderick Burns. Crows at Dusk. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2023
Honorable Mentions (not ranked but in alphabetical order by author)
Annie Bachini and Helen Buckingham. Two Haiku Poets. North Shields, England: Iron Press, 2023
Carolyn Hall. Unmended Fences. Ormskirk, England: Snapshot Press, 2023
Jeff Hoagland. Scent of Juniper. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2023
~ ~ ~
HAIKU ANTHOLOGY AWARDS:
Best
Stanford M. Forrester and Johnette Downing, Editors. Bird Whistle: A Contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, Senryu, & Short Poems. Windsor, CT: Bottle Rockets Press, 2023
Honorable Mentions
Christine Lamb Stern and Jeannie Rueter, Editors. Luminaries: Celebrating the Dojin of Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. San Jose, CA: Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, 2023
Jim Kacian & The Red Moon Editorial Staff. Skipping Stones: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2022. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2023
~ ~ ~
HAIBUN BOOK AWARDS:
Best
Lew Watts. Eira. Ormskirk, England: Snapshot Press, 2023
Honorable Mentions
Reka Nyitrai and Alan Peat. Barking at the Coming Rain. Uxbridge, England: Alba Publishing, 2023
Sean O’Connor. A Patch of Earth. Uxbridge, England: Alba Publishing, 2023
~ ~ ~
PROSE BOOK AWARDs:
Best
Roberta Beary, Lew Watts, and Rich Youmans. Haibun: A Writer's Guide. England: Ad Hoc Fiction, 2023
Honorable Mention
James Shea and Grant Caldwell, Editors, The Routledge Global Haiku Reader, London & New York: Routledge, 2023
~ ~ ~
BOOK DESIGN & AESTHETICS - SPECIAL COMMENDATION:
Lisa Gerlits and Antoinette Cheung. Deepening Leaves: 2022 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology. Bellevue, WA: Haiku Northwest Press, 2023
~ ~ ~
LINKED VERSE - SPECIAL COMMENDATION:
Christine L. Villa, Editor. How the Wind Moves: An Anthology of Collaborative Spilt Sequences. Sacramento, CA: Velvet Dusk Publishing, 2023
~ ~ ~
TRANSLATIONS BOOK - SPECIAL COMMENDATION:
Shelley Baker-Gard, Michael Freiling, and Satsuki Takikawa. They Never Asked: Senryu Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2023
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Arts & Haiku - YouTube Presentation
International Haiku Day~ ~ ~
Richard Tice, Regional Coordinator, is pleased to announce that The Washington Region of the Haiku Society of America hosted a two-hour presentation “Art & Haiku” on International Haiku Day (April 17, 2024). This gathering featured twelve haiku writers and artists sharing their work. You may enjoy this video on YouTube by clicking on the link below:
https://youtu.be/76hoycFyVEI?si=GKmh_vg4uEbQUZ_w
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Haiku Society of America Student Haiku Awards
in Memorial of Nicholas A. Virgilio
Sharon Pretti and M. Shane Pruett
judgesHere are the winning haiku:
spring tide
the colored pencil box
she never used
Teo Contac — Grade 7, Botosani, Romania
~ ~ ~
cranberry sauce
in an antique bowl—
autumn deepensEmme Doyle – Grade 8, Atlanta, GA
~ ~ ~
flower moon
touching the water
bullfrogs' thrumElsa Krol – Grade 9, State College, PA
~ ~ ~
rice cakes orbit
in a cloudy broth
lunar new yearBenjamin Moon-Chun – Grade 8, Decatur, GA
~ ~ ~
day moon . . .
mom still needs
a blood donorMaria Negrut – Grade 7, Botosani, Romania
~ ~ ~
silent night
a cherry branch
hits the moonEdi Parvu – Grade 7, Botosani, Romania
~ ~ ~
Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition Anthology
edited by Randy M. Brooks
designed by Ignatius Fay© 2022 HAIKU Society of America
To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition, the executive committee of the Haiku Society of America published this anthology of award-winning haiku and senryu. The student observations, insights, experiences, emotions and insights evident in these haiku and senryu are a wonderful testament to the fresh voices and vivid imagery of young people. We believe the judges’ commentaries add a valuable layer of meaning as we see how leaders, editors, writers and members of the Haiku Society of America carefully consider the significance of each award-winning poem.
Download your PDF copy for a teacher in your area.
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