Haiku Society of America Student Haiku Awards
in Memorial of Nicholas A. Virgilio
~ ~ ~
The 35th Annual Nicholas Virgilio
Haiku and Senryu Competition
for Grades 7-12
2025 Student Haiku Contest Guidelines
Submissions Open: January 20, 2025.
Deadline: In hand by March 30, 2025. Entries received after that date will not be accepted.
Eligibility: Any student in grades 7 through 12 enrolled in school as of September 2024 may enter.
Regulations: Submit up to three haiku per student.
All haiku or senryu must be previously unpublished, original work, and not entered in any other contest or submitted elsewhere for publication. Please follow the guidelines carefully. Publication is defined as an appearance in a printed book, magazine, or journal (sold or given away), or in any online journal that presents edited periodic content. The appearance of poems in online discussion lists or personal websites is not considered publication. Judges will be asked to disqualify any haiku that they have seen before.
Teachers & students are encouraged to learn more about contemporary haiku on the nature and style of award winning English Language Haiku/Senryu, by consulting these resources from the Haiku Society of America: (1) HSA educational resources, and (2) official HSA definitions.
You may find additional resources on the Nicholas Virgilio Haiku Association web site including workshops by leading haiku teachers. (See the link below.)
Permissions:
By entering the contest, you are granting permission for the Nicholas A. Virgilio Haiku Association and Haiku Society of America to print the award haiku and/or senryu on the Web.
ALSO, by entering the contest you are granting permission for the Nicholas A. Virgilio Haiku Association to print your poem in any possible future haiku anthologies sponsored by NVHA. Contestants - other than the winners - may opt out of publication on the submission form where indicated.
Online Submissions:
submissions OPEN on January 20, 2025
(the form below will NOT open before that date)SUBMIT WITH THE FORM HERE:
https://www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org/student-entryform
The NVHA & HSA have implemented a simple online web submission process for all entries to the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition.
Entry fee: None.
Although there is NO Entry fee, DONATIONS ARE WELCOME!
A donation of $2 per entry is strongly encouraged, to allow NVHA to increase the scholarship awards. Thank you for your support.
Adjudication: Judges will be named by the HSA.
Awards: Six poems will be selected and each awarded a scholarship prize of $250.
Awards will be higher if donations permit. The winning haiku/senryu and list of winners will be published in Frogpond and on the HSA web site. The high school of each student winner will receive a one-year subscription to Frogpond. Winners are usually announced in May.
Rights: All rights revert to the authors after publication.
Correspondence: Please keep a copy of your haiku; entries cannot be returned.
See an online anthology of past winners:
Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition Collection