• The Haiku Calendar Competition 2009

The Haiku Calendar
Competition
2009

• Winners
• Runners-Up
• Adjudicator's Report

• pdf version of results
• 2010 Calendar
• 2010 Competition

Winners

January
‘the sparrow’s beak’ — Peggy Willis Lyles (USA)

February
‘Groundhog Day’ — Francine Banwarth (USA)

March
‘my thoughts’ — Marilyn Appl Walker (USA)

April
‘rain settles’ — Peggy Willis Lyles (USA)

May
‘the baby reaches’ — Ferris Gilli (USA)

June
‘chickadee chatter’ — Andrea Grillo (USA)

July
‘snakeskin’ — Peggy Willis Lyles (USA)

August
‘shreds’ — Jim Kacian (USA)

September
‘cobweb morning’ — Matthew Paul (England)

October
‘rain done’ — Marshall Hryciuk (Canada)

November
‘leaden sky’ — Carolyn Hall (USA)

December
‘moonlight’ — Sandra Simpson (New Zealand)

Each of these haiku features prominently in The Haiku Calendar 2010.
The Prize Money of £300/US $600 is divided equally between the 12 Winners.

Note to authors: Please use the following acknowledgements when publishing these haiku in collections.
Award Credit: Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2010.
Publication Credit: The Haiku Calendar 2010 (Snapshot Press, 2009).

Runners-Up

_kala (India)
‘summer sky’

Raquel D. Bailey (USA)
‘morning appears’

Francine Banwarth (USA)
‘water calls them’

Sheila K. Barksdale (USA)
‘frozen stream’

Jack Barry (USA)
‘one word missing’

Roberta Beary (USA)
‘cul-de-sac’

Nola Borrell (New Zealand)
‘this wide sky’

Terry Ann Carter (Canada)
‘heat wave’

Simon Chard (Scotland)
‘evening smirr’
‘evening sun’

David Cobb (England)
‘gale force nine’

Anne LB Davidson (USA)
‘purple lilac’

Cherie Hunter Day (USA)
‘January thaw’

Madeleine Findlay (USA)
‘swarming ants’

Nigel Gibbions (England)
‘hard frost’

Ferris Gilli (USA)
‘larkspurs’
‘life stories’

Carolyn Hall (USA)
‘windfall apples’

Jeff Hoagland (USA)
‘sorry cricket’

Marshall Hryciuk (Canada)
‘behind the Inukshuk’

Claire Knight (England)
‘beneath the afternoon moon’

Peggy Willis Lyles (USA)
‘supple reeds’
‘the smoothness’

Clare McCotter (N. Ireland)
‘first frost’

Nancy Nitrio (USA)
‘spring morning’

Roland Packer (Canada)
‘clunk of the kegs’

Tom Painting (USA)
‘first crocus’
‘the pond ice’

Christopher Patchel (USA)
‘the clamor’

Matthew Paul (England)
‘on a back road’
‘pink moon’

Lynne Rees (France)
‘again this year’

Bruce Ross (USA)
‘one at a time’

Natalia L. Rudychev (USA)
‘the heart’

John Stevenson (USA)
‘marsh grass’

Alan Summers (England)
‘allhallowmas’
‘yellowing fields’

David Walker (England)
‘collecting leaves’

Alison Williams (England)
‘almost Christmas’
‘another day’

All runners-up are published in The Haiku Calendar 2010.

Note to authors: Please use the following acknowledgements when publishing these haiku in collections.
Award Credit: Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2009.
Publication Credit: The Haiku Calendar 2010 (Snapshot Press, 2009).

Adjudicator's Report

Many thanks to everyone who entered this 11th annual contest, and to those who helped to publicize what is an internationally established annual haiku ‘event’.

This year 768 entries (just short of 2001's record of 781) were received from 104 entrants residing in 14 countries across 4 continents:
USA (54 entrants), England (26), Canada (6), New Zealand (4), Scotland (3), Wales (3), Australia (1), Austria (1), France (1), India (1), Ireland (1), N. Ireland (1), Singapore (1), and Sweden (1).

As ever, in the initial stage of adjudication each poem entered faced one simple criterion – its quality as a haiku. The shortlisted haiku were then judged according to their originality and relevance to their assigned months, particularly with regards to seasonal references.

With 52 haiku by 37 authors, the resulting 2010 calendar continues a rich tradition exploring and celebrating the continuing relevance of seasonal references in English-language haiku.

Many thanks again to all entrants for making both this contest and the calendar a worthwhile, and ongoing, experience. I would like to congratulate all the winning poets, and hope that their haiku will be widely appreciated throughout the coming year.

John Barlow