Haiku Contests
RIK Haiku Contest
Limit 1 haiku. Results announced December 1.
Closes: October 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the FB page.
San Francisco International Competition
Haiku, senryu and tanka. Cash prize of $US100 for the winner in each category. Results announced in January and winning poems published in the Haiku Poets of Northern California journal, Mariposa.
Closes: In hand October 31.
Cost: $US1/poem.
Full details from the website.
Polish International Haiku Competition
Limit 1 haiku in English. Three-line poems only, with a kigo and in the short-long-short pattern. Judge is Lech Szeglowski (with pre-selection). Results announced by November 30.
Closes: October 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details, and an entry form, from the website.
Basho-an International English Haiku Contest
For 2-3-line haiku, up to 10 may be entered. Winners notified at the end of January 2027. There will be a contest anthology and winning poems will be published on the website. Note the copyright restriction. Judges are Kai Hasegawa, Naoko Fujita and Dhugal J. Lindsay.
Closes: October 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Capitale de la
Haibun Contest
Held to honour the centenary of poet Paul Éluard’s Capitale de la douleur. Cash prizes totalling $US150. The contest is for experimental haibun on the theme of “pain and/or love and loss”. This could be personal, historical, social, romantic, etc. Judges are Colleen M. Farrelly, Bryan Rickert, and Rowan Beckett Minor. Winners notified by December 15.
Closes: October 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
The Marrow
Chapbook Prize
The winner will receive $A1,000, publication of their chapbook with 5 Islands Press, and 10 author copies. Winner announced in April 2027. Judges are Maya C. Popa and Damen O’Brien.
Closes: December 14.
Cost: $A42/manuscript.
Full details, and an entry form, from the website.
Irish Haiku Society Competition
Cash prizes totalling €300, plus 7 highly commended awards. Winners announced in January. Judge is Anatoly Kudryavitsky.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: €3/£2.50/$US3 per haiku; or €20/£17/$US20 per 7 haiku.
Full details from the website.
Touchstone
Poem Awards
Open to any haiku/senryu published during 2026. A panel of judges will bestow a number of awards for poems they believe represent a noteworthy addition to English-language haiku. Anyone who has had at least one haiku/senryu published during 2026 may nominate 2 poems, one of which may be their own. Results announced April 17, 2027.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details, including an entry form, from the website.
Touchstone
Haibun Awards
Open to any haibun published during 2026. Two haibun may be nominated, one of which may be your own. Nominated haibun must have been published for the first time in 2026 and may have appeared in a book, print or online journal, or the results of a haibun contest. A panel of judges will bestow a number of awards for poems they believe represent a noteworthy addition to English-language haibun. Results announced April 17, 2027.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details, including the entry form, from the website.
Touchstone
Book Awards
The award is open to books, both print and e-books, published in the calendar year 2026.
Closes: December 31.
Cost: Free (but postage costs).
Full details from the website.
Welkin
Writing Prize
Cash prizes totalling £150. For fiction of up to 100 words, haibun welcome.
Submit: December 1-January 2, 2027.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website.
Snapshot Press
Calendar Contest
Twelve haiku will be picked as monthly winners sharing a cash prize of £400/$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.
BHS Awards
Haiku: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Andrew Shimield and Claire Thom. Tanka: Cash prizes totalling £350, judges are Joanna Ashwell and David Bingham. Haibun: Cash prizes totalling £175, judge is Roberta Beary. 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.