Haiku Contests

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.
Closes: 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.

Irmo Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Contest

Limit 1 haiku on the theme of cherry blossom. Judge is Tim Mueller. Results announced March 7.
Open: February 14-March 1.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the FB page.

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.

Haiku Magazine Contest

Limit of 6 haiku, 5-7-5 format. Results will be published in the (northern) spring/summer issue of Haiku magazine.
Closes: March 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website (scroll down to the third post for English rules).

High/Coo Chapbook Competition

Winning authors will receive $US100 and 10 copies of their collection. An entry comprises 30-50 haiku/senryu/tanka, poems may have been previously published.
Closes: April 1.
Cost: $US30 (annual subscription to the High/Coo Chapbook series = 3 issues a year).
Full details from the website.

Fish Haiku Prize

Ten haiku/senryu will be selected to appear in the Fish Anthology 2026, which will be launched in July at the West Cork Literary Festival. Judge is Mary-Jane Holmes. Results announced April 25.
Closes: April 5.
Cost: €5/haiku.
Full details from the website.

Kaji Aso Studio Haiku Contest

Cash prizes totalling $US525 for haiku and $US75 for senryu. Results by May 15.
Closes: April 6.
Cost: $US3/ poem.
Full details from the website.