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HaikuNow! International Haiku Contest (2010–2014)

The HaikuNow! International Haiku Contest, administered in three categories: Traditional, Contemporary, and Innovative, ran for five years, from 2010 through 2014. Any poet could enter one poem in any or all of the categories each year, and there was no entry fee. Results were traditionally announced on April 17 as part of the celebration of first National, and later, International Haiku Poetry Day.


The HaikuNow! International Haiku Contest was one of the earliest projects created and implemented by The Haiku Foundation. It was first conducted in 2010 and ran for five years. Contest results were traditionally announced on The Haiku Foundation website on April 17 as part of the celebration of first, National Haiku Poetry Day, later International Haiku Poetry Day.

The contest was administered in three categories:

Traditional (5–7–5 or nearly so), with a kire (cut) and a kigo (season word);

Contemporary (a freer approach to syllable count and adherence to “classical” topics); and

Innovative (everything else); haiku submitted in this category tended to be concrete poems or visual haiku (“eyeku”).

Any poet could enter one poem in any or all of the categories each year, and there was no entry fee. A winner of any category automatically became the screener for that category the following year.

Each year, the Traditional category was adjudicated by a guest judge, typically a well-known poet, scholar, or critic from outside the haiku community. Jim Kacian, president of The Haiku Foundation, judged the Contemporary and Innovative categories.

The HaikuNow! contest was discontinued following the 2014 iteration. It was determined by the THF Board of Directors that there were sufficient haiku contests available to haiku poets from other providers and that foundation resources spent on the contest could be better utilized on other projects.

The essential contest results are presented in the table below. The complete archives of the HaikuNow! International Haiku Contests are available on the THF website [https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/haikunow-archive/].

HAIKUNOW! INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST 2014

Contest CoordinatorMaria Eugenia Moreno (Brazil)

Overall number of entries


1,124

Traditional Category

Judge Thomas A. Clark (U.K.)
Pre-selector John Hawkhead (U.K.)
Number of entries 455
First Prize ($100) Nicole Pottier (France)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Robert Davey (U.K.)
William Hart (U.S.A.)
Commended (2) Michael Henry Lee (U.S.A.)
Stephen Toft (U.K.)

Contemporary Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Don Baird (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 374
First Prize ($100) Cherie Hunter Day (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Stewart C. Baker (U.S.A.)
Mark Smith (U.S.A.)
Commended (2) Dietmar Tauchner (Austria)
William Hart (U.S.A.)

Innovative Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Christopher Patchel (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 295
First Prize ($100) Joseph Salvatore Aversano (Turkey)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Kevin Goldstein-Jackson (U.K.)
Tom Painting (U.S.A.)
Commended (2) Philip Rowland (U.K./Japan)
Deborah P Kolodji (U.S.A.)

HAIKUNOW! INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST 2013

Contest Coordinator Maria Eugenia Moreno (Brazil)
Overall number of entries 957

Traditional Category

Judge Peter Duppenthaler (U.S.A./Japan)
Pre-selector Michael Henry Lee (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 372
First Prize ($100) John Hawkhead (U.K.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Ireland)
anonymous
Commended Seánan Forbes (U.K.)

Contemporary Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Cara Holman (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 330
First Prize ($100) Don Baird (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Lorin Ford (Australia)
Veronika Zora Novak (Canada)
Commended (2) Sandra Simpson (New Zealand)
David Caruso (U.S.A.)

Innovative Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Peter Newton (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 255
First Prize ($100) Christopher Patchel (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Eduard Țară (Romania)
John Fedyna (U.S.A.)
Commended (2) Terri L. French (U.S.A.)
Lorin Ford (Australia)

HAIKUNOW! INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST 2012

Contest Coordinator Maria Eugenia Moreno (Brazil)
Overall number of entries 891

Traditional Category

Judge Jane Hirshfield
Pre-selector Peter Newton (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 358
First Prize ($100) Michael Henry Lee (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) William Cullen, Jr. (U.S.A.)
Alice Frampton (U.S.A.)
Commended (3) Kathy Lippard Cobb (U.S.A.)
June Rose Dowis (U.S.A.)
Alegria Imperial (Canada)

Contemporary Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Francine Banwarth (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 316
First Prize ($100) Cara Holman (U.S.A.)
Runners-up Glenn G. Coats (U.S.A.)
Michael Henry Lee (U.S.A.)
Commended Mark E. Brager (U.S.A.)
Mark Smith (U.S.A.)

Innovative Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Christopher Patchel (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 217
First Prize ($100) Peter Newton (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (2) Jana Žufić (Croatia)
Darrell Lindsey (U.S.A.)
Commended (4) Rebecca Winsor (U.S.A.)
Bruce H. Feingold (U.S.A.)
Scott Mason (U.S.A.)
Tom Painting (U.S.A.)

HAIKUNOW! INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST 2011

Contest Coordinator Laura Sherman (U.S.A.)
Overall number of entries 858

Traditional Category

Judge Jane Hirshfield
Pre-selector Julie Bloss Kelsey
Number of entries 315
First Prize ($100) Tom Painting (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (4) Melissa Spurr (U.S.A.)
Deb Baker (U.S.A.)
Christopher Patchel (U.S.A.)
Marion Alice Poirier (U.S.A.)

Contemporary Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Maria Eugenia Moreno (Brazil)
Number of entries 303
First Prize ($100)Francine Banwarth (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (4) Sandra Simpson (New Zealand)
an’ya (U.S.A.)
C. R. Manley (U.S.A.)
Peter Newton (U.S.A.)

Innovative Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Melissa Allen (U.S.A.)
Number of entries 240
First Prize ($100) Christopher Patchel (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25) (4) Willy Cuvelier (Belgium)
Nan Dozier (U.S.A.)
Rafał Zabratyński (Poland)
Seneca Kennedy (U.S.A.)

HAIKUNOW! INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST 2010

Contest Coordinator Alice Frampton (U.S.A.)
Overall number of entries More than 700

Traditional category

Judge Billy Collins (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Peggy Willis Lyles (U.S.A.)
Number of entries More than 100
First Prize ($100) Cherie Hunter Day (U.S.A.)
Runners-up ($25)John Tiong Chung Hoo (Malaysia)
Victor Ortiz (U.S.A.)
Madeleine Findlay (U.S.A.)
Cory Ryant (U.S.A.)

Contemporary Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector John Stevenson
Number of entries More than 100
First Prize ($100) Lorin Ford (Australia)
Runners-up ($25) Vanessa Proctor (Australia)
Chad Lee Robinson (U.S.A.)
Rosie Roumeliotis (Greece)
Nora Wood (U.S.A.)

Innovative Category

Judge Jim Kacian (U.S.A.)
Pre-selector Philip Rowland (U.K./Japan)
Number of entries 240
First Prize ($100) Olga Dugan (France)
Runners-up ($25) Cherie Hunter Day (U.S.A.)
Tom Clausen (U.S.A.)
Scott Mason (U.S.A.)
H. Gene Murtha (U.S.A.)

COMPILED BY: Jim Kacian and Haikupedia editors

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Updated on September 4, 2023