The Clement Hoyt Memorial Award was one of the early and most distinguished of the designations of excellence awarded by Modern Haiku. Begun under the editorship of Kay Titus Mormino, the award was first granted in the summer 1971 issue and ran through the summer of 1981, that is, into the editorship of Robert Spiess. The prize was named in honor of Clement Hoyt and underwritten by his widow, Violet Hoyt. Initially the award brought a cash prize of $5.00 but from 1977 onward was replaced by a copy of the collection of Hoyt’s haikai.
A footnote to a haiku by Mary Dragonetti in Modern Haiku 2:3 (Summer 1971) announced, “This haiku is the first to win the Clement Hoyt Memorial Award, established by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. The award carries a $5.00 prize.” The anonymous donor was Violet Hoyt, widow of the pioneering haiku and senryu poet and coeditor of American Haiku, who had died in June 1970.
The winning haiku were selected by the Modern Haiku editors from among those that they had accepted for an issue. Because Hoyt was so closely identified with the foundations of English-languagesenryu, one might have expected this award to be for a senryu, but this does not seem to have been a criterion. The award continued in each issue through 12.2. From issue 8:1 the $5.00 cash prize was replaced by a copy of Storm of Stars: The Collected Poems and Essays of Clement Hoyt.
| Modern Haiku issue | Awardee | Haiku |
| Modern Haiku 2:3 (Summer 1971) | Mary Dragonetti | Raking — an old glove holding mold of a hand. |
| Modern Haiku 2:4 (Autumn 1971) | Marion J. Richardson | |
| Modern Haiku 3:1 (1972) | Foster Jewell | Campfire embers die— and suddenly the heavens come alive with stars. |
| Modern Haiku 3:2 (1972) | Dorothy Mitchell Bechhold | Old man on a bench day-dreaming of past conquests … with one eye open. |
| Modern Haiku 3:3 (1972) | David R. Priebe | Hoeing the field … Not even the caw of a crow to shield me from the sun! |
| Modern Haiku 4:1 (Winter–Spring 1973) | Helen Stiles Chenoweth | Freedom in its flight a lone seagull dips and soars against a rainbow — |
| Modern Haiku 4:2 (Summer 1973) | David R. Priebe | Family reunion — Many of the women-folk are pregnant again |
| Modern Haiku 4:3 (Fall 1973) | Martin Shea | caught shoplifting— crying, she beats her child for wanting the toy |
| Modern Haiku 5:1 (Winter–Spring 1974) | Ana Barton | Tenement children from a sagging fire escape blowing bubble worlds. |
| Modern Haiku 5:2 (Summer 1974) | Lloyd Gold | lost and shrieking in Housewares, he rushes down the up escalator |
| Modern Haiku 5:3 (Fall 1974) | Emily Romano | Moving day: the budding geranium left behind … |
| Modern Haiku 6:1 (1975) | Virginia Musgrove | The old man lingers beside the new mound of earth … shade of his shadow. |
| Modern Haiku 6:2 (1975) | Mary Castle | Child listens again to his favorite story, correcting details. |
| Modern Haiku 6:3 (1975) | Tom Tico | These cobblestone steps rise under the three pines to a city view. |
| Modern Haiku 7:1 (Winter–Spring 1976) | Brother Paul Joseph | In black kimono How strange beside the koto Caucasian fingers! |
| Modern Haiku 7:2 (Summer 1976) | Robert Spiess | Hugo Messerschmidt, County Judge (from the sequence “Branch River Shoals [Fourth Series]” As if it thundered! — a voice pronouncing judgment on one who blundered |
Modern Haiku 7:3 (Fall 1976) | Evelyn Tooley Hunt | For the funeral all the women mourners have had their hair done. |
Modern Haiku 7:4 (November 1976) | Marlene Wills | without a pause the auctioneer rolls his toothpick to the other side |
Modern Haiku 8:1 (Winter–Spring 1977) | Nick Virgilio | alone on the dark road reaching the last milestone and beyond … |
Modern Haiku 8:2 (Summer 1977) | Foster Jewell | By lantern light all the falling stars this dripping night. |
Modern Haiku 8:3 (Autumn 1977) | Mabelle A. Lyon | Her casket slowly moving down the aisle she walked as a bride. |
Modern Haiku 8:4 (November 1977) | Helen Rul Lawler | pool ripples: bounding the old lady even more. |
Modern Haiku 9:1 (Winter–Spring 1978) | Doug Ingels | Over the lodge door branching toward the winter moon, antlers … |
Modern Haiku 9:2 (Summer 1978) | Chuck Brickley | An old girlfriend — fingering his prayer-beads like crazy |
Modern Haiku 9:3 (Fall 1978) | Bill Pauly | hoar frost old man breathing on the bud |
Modern Haiku 10:1 (Winter–Spring 1979) | Nancy Kay | The first winter wind: she moves into the bed hollow his body had worn |
Modern Haiku 10:2 (Summer 1979) | William L. Zacchi | while she talks the fish turn and turn |
Modern Haiku 10:3 (Autumn 1979) | Peggy Willis Lyles | October twilight: the scarecrow in the garden drops its other glove |
Modern Haiku 11:1 (Winter–Spring 1980) | Mildred Williams Boggs | Autumn sun; the wasp’s shadow walks the bamboo blind |
Modern Haiku 11:2 (Summer 1980) | David Bushelle | Snow and mist the strikers move about one by one |
Modern Haiku 11:3 (Autumn 1980) | Michael Dudley | bareback through snow into my legs the horse’s heat |
Modern Haiku 12:1 (Winter–Spring 1981) | Finley M. Taylor | leaving only the wind in the flowers the gravediggers |
Modern Haiku 12:2 (Summer 1981) | Ruth Yarrow | low winter moon: her cheek curves the shadow of the crib bar |
Sources / Further Reading
- Hoyt, Clement. Storm of Stars: The Collected Poems and Essays of Clement Hoyt (1906–1970). Baton Rouge, La.: Green World, 1976. The book was published solely as a memorial and was distributed only as gifts and prize awards.
- Trumbull, Charles. A History of Modern Haiku. Lincoln, Ill.: Modern Haiku Press, 2019.