Haiku Contests
Rachel Sutcliffe Memorial Haiku-arts Contest
Listen very carefully for I shall explain zis only one. (I couldn’t get my cold-addled head round the rules, so the organisers have kindly clarified.)
Limit 4 haibun, inspired by the supplied photos (ie, one haibun per photo). A winning haibun and runners-up will be selected for each photo. Then, each photo will also have a winning haiku chosen for it, selected from the winning and runner-up haibun for that photo. Nb: The haiku will be chosen from the haibun so do not submit individual haiku.
Closes: December 15.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Touchstone Poem Awards
Open to any haiku/senryu published during 2024. A panel of judges will bestow a number of awards for poems they believe represent a noteworthy addition to English-language haiku. Anyone who has had at least 1 haiku/senryu published during 2024 may nominate 2 poems, 1 of which may be their own. Results on April 17, 2025.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Touchstone Haibun Awards
Open to any haibun published during 2024. Two haibun may be nominated, one of which may be your own. Nominated haibun must have been published for the first time in 2024. A panel of judges will bestow a number of awards for poems they believe represent a noteworthy addition to English-language haibun. Results on April 17, 2025.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Touchstone Book Awards
The award is open to print and e-books published in the calendar year 2024.
Closes: December 31 (postmark).
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Irish Haiku Society Competition
Cash prizes totalling €300, plus 7 highly commended awards. Winners announced in January. Judge is Anatoly Kudryavitsky.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: €3/£2.50/$US3 per haiku; or €20/£17/$US20 per 7 haiku.
Full details from the website.
Rattle Chapbook Prize
Submit 15-30 pages of poems. Individual poems may have been previously published, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Three winners will each receive $US5,000, 500 copies of their chapbook and have the book distributed to Rattle subscribers. Winners announced April 15.
Closes: January 15, 2025.
Cost: $US25 (annual subscription to the magazine).
Full details from the website.
Golden Haiku Contest
Limit 2 haiku on the theme of ‘bridges of belonging’. 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.
Closes: January 19.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Nagoya University Intercultural ‘Human Haiku’ Contest
Limit 10 senryu, linked work also welcome. Although the word ‘student’ appears a lot in the rules, it is also stated that anyone may enter. Please note the condition that all submitted works will be published on the website.
Closes: January 21.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
BHS Awards
Haiku: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Ikuyo Yoshimura and Maeve O’Sullivan. Tanka: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Lorraine Padden and Marilyn Humbert. Haibun: Cash prizes totalling £175, judge is Kim Richardson. 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.
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: $US5/poem.
Full details from the website.
Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Contest
Twelve haiku will be picked as monthly winners sharing a cash prize of £400/$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.
Martin Lucas Haiku Award
Cash prizes totalling £240. Winning and commended poems will be published in Haiku Presence. Judge is Richard Tindall.
Closes: January 31.
Cost: £5 for up to 4 haiku and £1.25 per haiku thereafter.
Full details from the website.
Bloodroot Haiku Award
Cash prizes totalling $US150. Limit 1 haiku. Winners, announced in May, published in Pinesong. Judge is.
Closes: February 1.
Cost: $US5/poem (free if a member of the North Carolina Poetry Society).
Full details from the website.
Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards
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 2024 and clearly must contain a printed 2024©. An author or publisher may submit more than one title.
Open: January 1-February 15.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Ito En Shinhaiku Contest
Limit 6 haiku. Prize money plus winning haiku will appear on Oi Ocha product packaging and a contest anthology. Results announced late October.
Closes: February 28.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Sejong 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.