Haiku Contests
Golden Haiku Contest
Limit 2 haiku on the theme of ‘the joy of nature’. Cash prizes in the adult international section totalling $US800. Winning haiku and selected others will be displayed on signboards around the ‘golden triangle’ of Washington DC from March to May. Winners announced mid-March. Judges are Abigail Friedman, Lenard Moore and Kit Pancoast Nagamura.
Closes: January 11.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Martin Lucas Haiku Award
Cash prizes totalling £215. Winning and commended poems will be published in Haiku Presence. Judge is Thomas Powell.
Closes: January 31.
Cost: £5 for up to 4 haiku and £1.50 per haiku thereafter.
Full details from the website.
BHS Awards
Haiku: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Jim Kacian and Lakshmi Iyer. Tanka: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Alan Peat and Michael Dylan Welch. Haibun: Cash prizes totalling £175, judge is Diana Webb. Winning work published in the BHS journal Blithe Spirit in May and posted to the website.
Closes: In-hand January 31.
Cost: From £5.50 for 3 haiku / tanka / haibun on a rising scale.
Full details from the website.
Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Contest
Twelve haiku will be picked as monthly winners sharing a cash prize of £400/$US600; 40 others as runners-up. All will be published. Haiku should include a seasonal word or activity. Results announced on March 31.
Closes: January 31.
Cost: £10/$US15 for up to 4 haiku; £20/$US30 up to 12 haiku.
Full details (including advice on seasonal words; how to assign months) from the website.
San Francisco International Rengay Contest
First prize of $US100. The winning linked-verse poem will be published in Mariposa, the HPNC membership journal.
Closes: In hand January 31.
Cost: $US5/poem.
Full details from the website.
Betty Drevniok Award
Limit of 3 haiku per person. Winners announced in May and published on the Haiku Canada website.
Closes: February 1.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Bloodroot Haiku Award
Cash prizes totalling $US150. Limit 1 haiku. Winners, announced in May, published in Pinesong. Judge is Susan Antolin.
Closes: February 1.
Cost: $US5/poem (free if a member of the North Carolina Poetry Society).
Full details from the website.
Haiku Hike Contest
Limit 3 haiku in 5-7-5 format on a theme. Twenty haiku will be made into signboards and displayed on a ‘Haiku Hike’ around Downtown Tucson, Arizona from March 20-June 1. Judge is Paola Valenzuela. Winners announced mid-March.
Submit: January 12-February 2.
Cost: Free.
Full details and the online entry form from the website.
HSA Merit Book Award
For excellence in published haiku, translation, and criticism. Cash prizes totalling $US600. A list of winners will be published in Frogpond and the HSA website. Books must have been published in 2025 and clearly must contain a printed 2025©. An author or publisher may submit more than one title. Three copies needed of each book.
Closes: February 15.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Maya Lyubenova International Haiku Contest
Limit 2 haiku, entries may be in English or Bulgarian. Winning haiku announced on April 17. Judges: Iliyana Stoyanova, Vanessa Proctor and Ben Gaa.
Closes: February 28.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Ito En Shinhaiku Contest
Limit 6 haiku. Winning haiku will appear on Oi Ocha product packaging and a contest anthology. Results announced in late October.
Closes: February 28.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Sijo Writing Competition
Limit 1 sijo. Cash prizes totalling $US2,250. Winners announced by mid-May. Winning poems may be published.
Closes: February 28.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website, including information about the sijo form.
Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest
Limit 1 haiku in the short-long-short pattern. Winners announced on April 17.
Submit: February 1-28.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Robert Spiess Memorial Award
Cash prizes totalling $US175. Winning entries will be published in the (northern) summer issue of Modern Haiku and posted on the website.
Closes: In hand March 13.
Cost: $US1/haiku.
Full details from the website.