The Babishai Haiku Award was established in 2016 as part of the Babishai Poetry Festival and sonsored by the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation based in Kampala, Uganda. This was the first English-language haiku contest in Africa for African poets. Competitions were held in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
Contest Rules and Procedures
The following submission guidelines for the Babishai are derived from the announcement for the 2020 contest in the Babishai Niwe website.
The Babishai Haiku Award competition is open to Africans aged 18 and above whose country of residence is in Africa.
In 2020, submissions were received from January 1 thorugh March 15
A minimum of three and maximum of five haiku in English. Haiku must be original (never previously published either online or in print). Plagiarism and late submission were considered grounds for disqualification of entries.
Submissions were to be sent as an attachment to an email. The body of the email should include the poet’s name, country of origin, country of residence, and email address.
The First Prize winner received US$300. The Second and Third Prize-winners received US$200 each.
Winners were announced during the annual Babishai Niwe Poetry Festival, Kampala, Uganda, in June.
Babishai Haiku Award 2020
| Judge | Kariuki wa Nyamu, Kenya | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Awards ceremony | Online ceremony, December 29, 2020 | |
| Continental Award | Andrew Herbert Omuna, Uganda | the morning rain falls endlessly hugging thy sleep frozen ideas die |
| Shortlisted haiku (9) | Ali Znaidi, Tunisia | total blackout … street lamps glow with mating fireflies |
| Praise Osawaru, Nigeria | the wind plays every tree sways to its song— nature’s musical | |
| Devis the Poet, Uganda | my child’s eyes can still see trees run past our small moving car. | |
| Ahmad Holderness, Nigeria, res. U.K. | bitter kola grandpa breaks into a new tale | |
| Akello Charlotte, Uganda | delicate mounds parting soil in the night to die out soon | |
| Justice Joseph Prah, Ghana | garden opera in the moon’s spotlight a frog leads chorus | |
| Rose Wangari Kinyanjui, Kenya | suffocated roots peep out of garbage dump where is fresh air? | |
| Adipo Sidang’, Kenya | ringed with its papers and tracked like jailbird on bail the immigrant lands … | |
| Osho Tunde Matthew, Nigeria | in the wall deep opening abandoned geckoes’ room |
Babishai Haiku Award 2017
| Judges | Adjei Agyei-Baah, Ghana; Emmanuel Kalusian, Nigeria; and Mercy Ikuri, Kenya | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Award ceremony | August 6, 2017, at the Babishai Niwe Poetry Festival dinner, Kampala, Uganda | |
| First Prize | Kariuki wa Nyamu, Kenya | last night’s rain in the morning mud fresh toad prints |
| Second Prize | Anthony Itopa Obaro, Nigeria | downpour waterfalls from rooftops pouring into buckets |
| Third Prize | Kuadegbeku Pamela Angela, Ghana | moon circle palms into palms an armless child breaks the ring |
| Shortlisted haiku (15 or 17) | Charlotte Akello, Uganda | A slice of the moon swimming in the calm night pond— another festival |
| Usman Karofi, Nigeria | July rain … my child traces her name on the car’s windscreen | |
| Ahmad Holderness, Nigeria | migratory birds black news fly out of Zululand | |
| Fred Kweku Forson, Ghana | abandoned mirror— the crow finds company with its own image | |
| Carolyne Miriam Acen, Uganda | the drunken cockroach reels around the verandah- rooster chuckles | |
| Kwao Jonathan Tetteh, Ghana | under the bright moon, fairy tales bring chill bumps around log-fires | |
| Nnedi Ezenwa Ohaeto, Nigeria | crickets’ chirps break the quiet of night: an old man deserts his armchair | |
| Theophilus Femi Alawonde, Nigeria | savannah hunt … vultures rush to the kill before me an owl hoots we rush to papa’s bed too late | |
| Justice Joseph Prah, Ghana | drone season from the harmattan mango a fly calls flies harmattan mango the first ripening in the midday sun | |
| Osemwengie Zion, Nigeria | at dawn the sky denies a lonely moon a place to plant a foot | |
| Abubasam Fahad Mutumba, Uganda | Ugandan road … a shrivelled leaf flies in a cloud of dust | |
| Akor Emmanuel Oche, Nigeria | market square— the town crier’s voice summons a crowd nightfall the modulated chirping of hidden crickets | |
| Obaji Nwali Shegun, Nigeria | roadside gaunt vultures nipped a zonked drunkard | |
| Jamir Danbala Umar, Ghana | in different fonts an old school wall exhibits aliases of past students. |
Babishai Haiku Award 2016
| Chief Judge | Adjei Agyei-Baah, Ghana | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Announcement of winners | August 26, 2016, during the Babishai 2016 Poetry Festival, Kampala, Uganda | |
| Grand Prize (3-way tie) | Blessmond Alebna Ayinbire, Ghana | fogbound day … everyone suffers myopia |
| Chibuihe-Light Obi, Nigeria | weaver birds … the bombed market echoes back to life | |
| Kwaku Feni Adow, Ghana | blackout evening the moon lights up outdoor conversation | |
| Shortlisted haiku (3) | Ayesha Kajee, South Africa | When the rain-drones drop kaleidoscopes explode from Namaqualand’s soul |
| Kwaku Feni Adow, Ghana | new buds the farmland throws off a past of harmattan fire | |
| Chibuihe-Light Obi, Nigeria | orange sunset— fisherman’s shadow afloat on the waves |
Sources / Further Reading
- “Babishai’s 2016 Babishaiku shortlist,” Africal Literary Magazines website, July 8, 2016: https://africanliterarymagazines.singlestory.org/2016-babishaiku-shortlist/.
- “The Babishai 2017 Haiku Shortlist,” Babishai Niwe website, July 19, 2017: http://bnpoetryaward.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-babishai-2017-haiku-shortlist.html.
- “Babishai2020 Haiku Longlist,” Babishai Niwe website, July 14, 2020: http://bnpoetryaward.blogspot.com/2020/07/babishai2020-haiku-longlist.html.
- “Babishai2020 Haiku Award-giving Ceremony: Facebook Live,” Poetry Africa 2024 website, December 27, 2020: https://www.babishai.com/tag/ugandan-poetry/.