The annual Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards were inaugurated in 2013 under the aegis of The Heron’s Nest haiku journal in memory of Peggy Willis Lyles (1939–2010), leading American haiku poet and associate editor of The Heron’s Nest from 2002 through 2010. The Lyles Awards were immediately established as one of the most popular and competitive contests for English-language haiku, attracting 1,500–2,000 entries a year; the number jumped over 2,200 in 2020 and over 3,000 in 2021. Regulations for submissions and reports of contest winners as well as the judges’ comments are archived on The Heron’s Nest website.
9th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2021
| Judge | Ferris Gilli | |
| Number of entries | 3,115 by 739 poets | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Ron C. Moss, Tasmania, Australia | tangerine sunset a small boy gallops his stick-pony home |
| Second Place | Carolyn Hall, San Francisco, California | roles we don’t prepare for wild iris |
| Third Place | Marietta McGregor, Canberra, Australia | a basket of shells other tides wetting other children |
| Honorable Mention (5) | Joe McKeon, Strongsville, Ohio | candlelight dinner a whispered question teases the flame |
| Bruce H. Feingold, Berkeley, California | fenced garden a deer nudges against the rusted latch | |
| Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington | winter squall— my daughter tells me her doll won’t sleep | |
| Dan Hardison, Wilmington, North Carolina | conversation lost in the crowd … mockingbird song | |
| Niki Curatti, Chicago, Illinois | yard flamingo its left leg —exhausted |
8th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2020
| Judge | Susan Antolin | |
| Number of entries | 2,214 | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Helen Davison, New South Wales, Australia | police siren— a swarm of moths flat on the wall |
| Second Place | Mary Stevens, Hurley, New York | a turn of stars the girl with the hula hoop keeps it going |
| Third Place | Lynn Edge, Tivoli, Texas | ash buds my first spring without him |
| Honorable Mention (5) | Michele Root-Bernstein, East Lansing, Michigan | stone cistern the song fills with wren |
| Joanne van Helvoort, Beerta, The Netherlands | first contractions the heave of the sea before breaking | |
| Edward Cody Huddleston, Baxley, Georgia | wildflowers in a vase she tells me about her twenties | |
| Anna Race Vosburgh, Columbia, Tennessee | I clutch the frail hand that once clutched mine— winter dusk | |
| Terri L. French, Sioux Falls, South Dakota | growth spurt— measuring himself against the hollyhocks |
7th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2019
| Judge | Cherie Hunter Day | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | 1,738 | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Matthew Markworth, Mason, Ohio | lily … without a word |
| Second Place | Jenny Fraser, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand | abbey ruins the wintering over of stars |
| Third Place | Robin Anna Smith, Wilmington, Delaware | carving the snow ulu moon |
| Honorable Mention (3) | John Barlow, Ormskirk, England | deep autumn … the peregrine folded into slate-grey rain |
| Joe McKeon, Strongsville, Ohio | butterfly exhibit an innocent man is released | |
| John Barlow, Ormskirk, England | wind-rippled tarn a raven’s croak echoes through stone |
6th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2018
| Judge | Gary Hotham | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | More than 1,800 | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Alan S. Bridges, Littleton, Massachusetts | vernal equinox the bend of an elbow out a car window |
| Second Place | Mary Weiler, Austin, Texas | her Persian carpet before mourners disrupt the pattern |
| Third Place | Hélène Duc, Bichancourt, France | equinox a scent of light on snow |
| Honorable Mention (10) | Brad Bennett, Arlington, Massachusetts | you don’t know until it’s past last frost |
| Tom Clausen, Ithaca, New York | on the horizon just enough cloud to hold some sunset | |
| Steve Dolphy, Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. | late autumn sun every single object tied to its shadow | |
| Steve Dolphy, Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. | the steam that never left the kettle water again | |
| Rick Jackofsky, Rocky Point, New York | shadows casting darkness through an open door | |
| Tomislav Maretić, Zagreb, Croatia | shallow brook— first snow settles on a stone above the water | |
| kjmunro, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory | flight path of the geese soon forgotten by all but the geese | |
| Tim Murphy, Madrid, Spain | for company the snow crunch underfoot winter solstice | |
| Peter Newton, Winchendon, Massachusetts | losing hold of where home is gift shop seahorses | |
| Olivier Schopfer, Geneva, Switzerland | spring digging up the memory of earth |
5th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2017
| Judge | Sandra Simpson | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | 1,624 from 359 poets | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Glenn G. Coats, Prospect, Virginia | swallows at dusk the way her hands propel the story |
| Second Place | Ann Magyar, Boston, Massachusetts | the things she carried in her apron autumn dusk |
| Third Place | Jay Friedenberg, New York, New York | smooth cemetery stone I run my fingers across her lifetime |
| 1st Honorable Mention | Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington | dappled sun— the carousel stops on a high note |
| 2nd Honorable Mention | Martha Magenta, Bristol, England | new ice … the pattern of small grudges |
| Third Honorable Mention | Holli Rainwater, Fresno, Ohio | childhood summers the weight of a goldfinch |
| Fourth Honorable Mention | Michele L. Harvey, Hamilton, New York | her apron strings now tied around my waist … Mother’s day |
| Fifth Honorable Mention | Earl R. Keener, Bethany, West Virginia | persimmons the opossum grins with fifty teeth |
4th Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2016
| Judge | Francine Banwarth | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | 1,930 from 425 poets | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Milan Dragović, Belgrade, Serbia | autumn rain— nothing left of the gull but its voice |
| Second Place | Meik Blöttenberger, Hanover, Pennsylvania | winter birds all my hopeful doubt |
| Third Place | Carole MacRury, Point Roberts, Washington | old memories— a bellflower folds around a bee |
| Honorable Mention (5) | Peter Newton, Winchendon, Massachusetts | pond light on birch bark the dream leaves the way it arrives |
| Carl Seguiban, Burnaby, British Columbia | thin harvest— I salt the bitterness out of the gourd | |
| Yesha Shah, Surat, Gujarat, India | cheshire moon— the arc of a wall calendar’s rod | |
| Matt Morden, Newcastle Emlyn, Wales | nowhere to be the sharpness of sorrel on my tongue | |
| Dru Philippou, Taos, New Mexico | last day of school the new boy offers to take the turtle home |
3rd Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2015
| Judge | Roberta Beary | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | 1,868 from 441 poets | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Adelaide B. Shaw, Millbrook, New York | spring equinox a change in the melody of melting ice |
| Second Place | Beth McFarland, Karlsruhe, Germany | wren song— the width of now |
| Third Place | Sonam Chhoki, Thimphu, Bhutan | ultrasound scan I rearrange my dreams |
| Honorable Mention (5) | Francine Banwarth, Dubuque, Iowa | dandelion down to the bare necessities |
| James Chessing, San Ramon, California | winter solitude my chess move marked return to sender | |
| Dan Curtis, Victoria, British Columbia | huckleberries picking through my boyhood | |
| Charles Doebler, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania | spring harvest fresh rocks from the potato field | |
| LeRoy Gorman, Napanee, Ontario | ocean wind salt for the busker’s cup |
2nd Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2014
| Judge | Jim Kacian | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Prize | Carolyn Hall, San Francisco, California | a password to access my passwords the hummingbird’s tongue |
| Second Prize | Francine Banwarth, Dubuque, Iowa | shortest day spare parts in a box |
| Third Prize | Ann K. Schwader, Westminster, Colorado | this world’s long shadow blood moon |
| Honorable Mention (3) | Glenn G. Coats, Prospect, Virginia | not knowing when I’ll want it back winter wind |
| Carolyn Hall, San Francisco, California | above all the finch’s song | |
| John Barlow, Ormskirk, England | gathering clouds the clack of a clam on an otter’s stone |
1st Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2013
| Judge | Christopher Herold | |
| Contest coordinator | John Stevenson | |
| Number of entries | 1,518 by 341 poets | |
| Announcement of results & judge’s comments | The Heron’s Nest website | |
| First Place | Garry Gay, Santa Rosa, California | end of the world I blow apart a dandelion |
| Second Place | Carole MacRury, Point Roberts, Washington | spring fever— the turtle’s neck at full stretch |
| Third Place | Christopher Patchel, Mettawa, Illinois | nevertheless fall colors |
| First Honorable Mention | Kirsty Karkow, Waldoboro, Maine | the housemaid shakes her mop outside … cherry blossoms |
| Second Honorable Mention | Jim Kacian, Winchester, Virginia | one step farther than I wanted to go spring wind |
| Third Honorable Mention | Joey Russell-Bridgens, Omaha, Nebraska | spring thaw … what I meant to tell her |
| Fourth Honorable Mention | Tom Painting, Atlanta, Georgia | cicada shell our ten-year-old says he’ll never leave home |
Related Haikupedia Articles
The Heron’s Nest
The Heron’s Nest Readers’ Choice Awards
Peggy Willis Lyles