Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards (2003– )

This annual haiku competition was launched in 2003 in memory of longtime Modern Haiku editor Robert Spiess, who died in 2002. Each year one of Spiess’s “Speculations” is selected as a theme. Poets may submit up to five haiku. Typically three prizes and as many as five honorable mentions are chosen double-blind by one or two judges. In recent years the competition has drawn as many as 577 entries. Results, including the judges’ commentaries, are published in the summer issue of Modern Haiku following the contest.

---

Competition Guidelines

(Based on the guidelines for the 2023 contest)

Theme: Haiku are to be written in the spirit of a “Speculation” selected each year by competition coordinator Billie Wilson from Robert Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku, Modern Haiku Press, 1995).

Deadline: In hand no later than March 13 (Bob Spiess’s death date).

Rules: The competition is open to everyone but the staff of Modern Haiku, the competition coordinator, and the judge(s). Entries must be in English. Each entry must be the original, unpublished work of the author, and should not be under consideration in a contest or for publication elsewhere. For purposes of this competition, appearance of a haiku in an Internet journal, on a website, in a blog, or in any other public medium is considered publication, but posting haiku on a private email list is not. Of course, entries should not be shared in an Internet journal, website, blog, private or public email list, or social media during the term of the competition.

Submission guidelines: Poets may submit a maximum of five haiku written in the spirit of the given Speculation, accompanied by the applicable entry fee. 

Email entries are to be submitted as follows: on the Modern Haiku subscription page, find the Donate button; make a donation of up to $5 (i.e., $1 for each entry); a payment confirmation number will be provided, and it should be copied and pasted into an email with the haiku submissions; the poet’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address; and the email sent to Billie Wilson at akwilsons@gci.net.

Postal entries are to be be typed or printed legibly on one sheet of paper that contains all haiku being submitted (not one sheet per haiku). The poet’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address (if any) should appear in the upper lefthand corner of the sheet of paper.

Poets should keep a copy of their submission; entries will not be returned. Instructions should be followed carefully: entries that are incomplete or that do not comply with the instructions are discarded.

Postal entries are sent to: 

Billie Wilson
1170 Fritz Cove Road
Juneau, AK 99801-8501 USA

Entry fee: US$1 per haiku, cash, check, or PayPal (U.S. funds); checks should be made payable to Modern Haiku. For email entries, follow the instructions above.

Adjudication: One or more judges are selected by Modern Haiku; their name(s) are announced at the time of the awards. Judging is double-blind, and the judge(s) do not know the identity of the entrants. The judges’ decisions are final.

Selection criteria: The judge(s) look for entries that hew to Western norms for haiku as published in Modern Haiku and other leading English-language haiku journals and that best capture the spirit of the theme Speculation. There are no rules as to syllable or line count.

Awards: Currently—First Prize $100; Second Prize $50; Third Prize $25 and up to five poets awarded Honorable Mentions. Through the 2019 competition, until the stocks at Modern Haiku Press were depleted, winners and honorable mentions received copies of Robert Spiess‘s books. See the “Awards” sections in the table below for the prizes in each competition.

Notification: Winners are notified by email or phone before the general announcement. Winning entries are published in the summer issue of Modern Haiku, posted on the Modern Haiku website, and announced on social media. 

Participating poets may receive a list of the winners by requesting it in their email entries or including a stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE) with their postal entries.

Competition archives: The complete results of each competition, including the judges’ commentaries, are archived by Modern Haiku webmaster Randy Brooks on the website and provided a principal source for this Haikupedia article.

---

21st Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2023

Theme Speculation	The value of juxtaposition of entities in haiku, when appropriately accomplished, is that the often rather divergent qualities or characteristics of the phenomena act like the striking together of flint and steel: a spark flashes forth that is analogous to an illuminative experience or intuition.
Judge	Gary Hotham
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	514
Results announced	Modern Haiku 54:2 (Summer 2023)
Awards	First Prize: $100 Second Prize: $50 Third Prize: $25 Five poets were awarded an Honorable Mention

First Place	Alan S. Bridges	train tunnel— sliding a bookmark between pages of a mystery
Second Place	Scott Mason	lace curtains the visiting nurse tries to find a good vein
Third Place	Ronald J. Scully	raking leaves all the words never used
Honorable Mention (5, unranked)	Robert Witmer	empty pockets in a secondhand coat Indian summer
	MJ Mello	moonlight lifted by the tide the scatter of his ashes
	Joe McKeon	robin songs an immigrant’s child  translates for grandpa
	Alvin B. Cruz	finding where I belong the empty space in a jigsaw puzzle
	Antoinette Cheung	sweeping fog her last breath still in the room

20th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2022

Theme Speculation	[T]he more satisfactory haiku are those that incorporate or juxtapose two (sometimes three) elements or perceptions in an aesthetic manner, rather than merely elaborating on one entity. The use of a season word, for example, has the function of relating ‘in absentia’ all the aspects and entities of the season to the entities put forth in the haiku.
Judge	Angela Terry
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	517 from 115 poets in 18 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 53:2 (Summer 2022)
Awards	First Prize: $100 Second Prize: $50 Third Prize: $25 Four poets were awarded an Honorable Mention

First Place	Julie Schwerin	the too much of shoes that tie summer’s end
Second Place	Bill Cooper	twilight chill gumbo simmering to the voice  of Sweet Emma
Third Place	Greg Schwartz	midday heat the lumberjack rests  in the shade
First Honorable Mention	Dian Duchin Reed	winter’s blue sky the missing boy found
Second Honorable Mention	Frank Hooven	double rainbow the trailer park glistens
Third Honorable Mention	Greg Schwartz	night train the trundle of the coffee cart
Fourth Honorable Mention	Kat Lehman	flashes of white butterfly junkyard yarrow

19th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2021

Theme Speculation	In the better haiku there is a surprisingly large amount of subjectivity beneath the objectivity of the haiku’s entities. This subjectivity is not stated as such, but is wordlessly perceived.
Judge	Carolyn Hall
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	530 from 116 poets in 16 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 52:2 (Summer 2021)
Awards	First Prize: $100 Second Prize: $50 Third Prize: $25 Five poets were awarded an Honorable Mention

First Prize	Tom Bierovic	origami boat the hospice nurse  gives it a name
Second Prize	Alan S. Bridges	thistle seed  a new spot  on her spine
Third Prize	Sandra Simpson	no headstone— the rosemary bush  finds its shape
First Honorable Mention	Frank Hooven	news of his passing I walk my feet  through morning dew
Second Honorable Mention	Scott Mason	four walls  I trace  a nautilus
Third Honorable Mention	Amy Losak	empty begging cup the old man builds a cross  out of pennies
Fourth Honorable Mention	Antoinette Cheung	lullaby … grandma’s hand  cradled in mine
Fifth Honorable Mention	Frank Hooven	morning fog the wail of saws  against the sycamore

18th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2020

Theme Speculation	A genuine haiku … has … an inherent felt-rhythm that is in concord with that which is portrayed in the haiku.
Judge	Alan S. Bridges
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	552 from 127 poets in 13 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 51:2 (Summer 2020)
Awards	First Prize: $100 Second Prize: $50 Third Prize: $25 Five poets were awarded an Honorable Mention

First Place	Corine Timmer	sprouting grass—  the slaughter tag  in the lamb’s ear
Second Place	Terri L. French	in the center of the cavern a call to worship
Third Place	Julie Emerson	daffodils in a jar of rain  on her grave
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	Bob Redmond	shearing season—  before the first snip  the boy’s wince
	Sandra Rector	a baby’s cry—  her breasts  remember
	Tia Haynes	gathering the last of the sun … a lullaby
	Vicki Miko	four o’clocks in the bowl on the day she forgot my name
	Eric Sundquist	spring wind the distant flute  of a wood thrush

17th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2019

Theme Speculation	Originality in haiku does not mean novelty but direct contact with things in their original nature.
Judge	Scott Mason
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	477 from 106 poets in 11 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 50:2 (Summer 2019)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus an inscribed copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s Noddy (1997, out of print) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001, out of print) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Place	Matthew Markworth	fog … it comes and  it goes
Second Place	Cyndi Lloyd	not a thought  sparkle after sparkle  across the lake
Third Place	Angela Terry	moon glow … an owl’s screech  fades into it
First Honorable Mention	Tom Painting	old linoleum a permanent scuff  from the cottage door
Second Honorable Mention	John Barlow	the long shadow of a standing stone midsummer’s eve
Third Honorable Mention	Gary Hotham	rain crosses           the pond a center for each ripple
Fourth Honorable Mention	Celia Stuart-Powles	springtime  the cat’s tail  a little higher
Fifth Honorable Mention	Alan S. Bridges	into winter the last drop of oolong  leaves the gooseneck spout

16th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2018

Theme Speculation	A haiku lets things become what they are.
Judge	Michael Dylan Welch
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	407 from 92 poets in 13 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 49:2 (Summer 2018)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print; previous owner’s name written on first page) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Cottage of Wild Plum (1991, out of print) Third Prize: $25 plus an inscribed copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001, out of print) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Place	Tia Haynes	after packing our quiet embrace
Second Place	Chris Bays	flapping police tape … snow fills a kiddie pool
Third Place	John Hawk	old sandbox the weeds all grown up
First Honorable Mention	Angela Terry	night train … the false positive that wasn’t
Second Honorable Mention	Robert Witmer	Bamiyan the rock face before the mountain was born
Third Honorable Mention	Michele Root-Bernstein	deep snow the whole day inside myself
Fourth Honorable Mention	Peter Barnes	garden project— a little paint on the ladybug
Fifth Honorable Mention	Debbie Strange	longer days I knight my sister with an icicle

15th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2017

Theme Speculation	When haiku poets are truly stirred by a now-moment of awareness they respond with a simple, usually silent “Yes,” not because they “understand,” for that means the intellect is operating on the event- experience. This “Yes” is not one of considered approval but is prior to such an intellective judgment, it is an unqualified acceptance of the moment and its entities just as they are in their true nature at that particular and never to be repeated split second.
Judge	Ferris Gilli
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	577 from 136 poets in 17 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 48:2 (Summer 2017)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001, out of print) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Five Caribbean Haibun (1972, out of print) (1982) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Alan S. Bridges	an old song pours  from a Navajo toehold  canyon wren
Second Prize	Cherie Hunter Day	nightfall— moths the color of the dying pine
Third Prize	John Barlow	morning frost the trunks of birch saplings beginning to silver
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	Olivier Schopfer	day moon out of the subway entrance a saxophone solo
	Debbie Strange	last campout … sandhill cranes call down the northern lights
	Jacqueline Pearce	after the rain the rainbow in the fly’s wings
	Michele L. Harvey	another notch out of the tomcat’s ear … spring breeze
	Sandra Simpson	summer solstice— pulling the earth back round a zinnia

14th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2016

Theme Speculation	As haiku poets we can learn much from such sources as the traditional masters’ haiku and from contemporary haiku publications; but our best teachers are wind and rain, oaks and anemones, rivers and mountains, minnows and giraffes, eagles and earthworms, children and God’s fools.
Judge	Christopher Herold
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	505 from 121 poets in 13 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 47:2 (Summer 2016)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed copy of Spiess’s The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Ann Magyar	tent city somehow the children make kites
Second Prize	Joe McKeon	oil swirls in a sand castle moat screeching gulls
Third Prize	Michele L. Harvey	so little left of the no trespassing sign … snowmelt
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	Sharon Pretti	news of refugees the pieces of sea glass I decide to keep
	Rita Odeh	heavy snow— each branch with its burden
	Olivier Schopfer	afternoon stillness a cricket leaps out of its shadow
	Lesley Anne Swanson	ordinary morning the cat grooming anyway
	Brad Bennett	Grand Canyon neither of us mentions the silence

13th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2015

Theme Speculation	It seems that those haiku that have an inherently melodious quality are the most expressive and contain the most felt-depth.
Judge	Marjorie Buettner
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	248 from 60 poets in 9 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 46:2 (Summer 2015)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed copy of Spiess’s The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Cottage of Wild Plum (1991, out of print) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Place	Rebecca Lilly	The life behind the one I think I’m living— daylily pollen in wind
Second Place	Judt Shrode	mesa wind flutes the mouths of clay vessels spring snow
Third Place	Lesley Anne Swanson	that old tune … knots in my shoelace coming loose
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	James Chessing	losing you slowly the incremental way light leaves the day
	Robert Witmer	butterflies feeding blossoms a boy with a net catching sunshine
	Tracy Davidson	my footprint fades with the turning tide hint of whale song
	Natalia L. Rudychev	darkness falling into the stars between us
	Robert Witmer	wind chimes in winter moonlight through broken glass

12th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2014

Theme Speculation	After the awareness of a haiku moment, the poet must select and arrange the words of the haiku in such a manner that when the haiku is read or heard, the words arouse or evoke in the reader/hearer those immediate feelings that the poet had. The art of haiku is that of the haiku poet’s feel for words, the selection of the absolutely appropriate words and the exact positioning of them.
Judge	Roberta Beary
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	340 from 81 poets in 9 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 45:2 (Summer 2014)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print, inscribed to a former owner) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Ernest J. Berry	alcatraz manacles of kelp
Second Prize	Carolyn Hall	quince blossoms  he stops  the chemo
Third Prize	Kristen Deming	alone now  no ruby slippers  to take me home
First Honorable Mention	John Barlow	thousands of feet of darkness above us sleeping swifts
Second Honorable Mention	James Chessing	lullaby  meteorites flash  beneath heavy lids
Third Honorable Mention	kjmunro	tall grass a hand drowning in snow waves

11th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2013

Theme Speculation	Another of the marvelous paradoxes of haiku is that the better they express the suchness of entities the better they intimate the essential mystery of these things.
Judges	Eve Luckring and Lew Watts
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	256 from 66 poets in 8 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 44:2 (Summer 2013)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print, signed to a previous owner) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Ernest J. Berry	midsummer under a leaf hidden from
Second Prize (2 equal)	Margaret Dornaus	alphabet soup I practice cradling love in a stainless spoon
	Scott Mason	sautéed fiddleheads      dinner begins         with grace
Honorable Mention, unranked (2)	John Barlow	overnight the spider’s mathematics
	Julie Warther	nightfall no decision required

10th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2012

Theme Speculation	Haiku have three forms or manifestations: the written, which enters the eye; the spoken, which enters the ear; and the essential … which enters the heart. [Prompted in part by a passage by Sa’in al-Din ibn Turkah.]
Judges	Melissa Allen and Carlos Colón
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	323 from 83 poets in 9 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 43:2 (Summer 2012)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print, signed to a previous owner) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Scott Mason	nautical chart     I touch the depth  of my mother’s ashes
Second Prize	Duro Jaiye	slave quarters … the shapes of their shadows  in this dust
Third Prize	Susan Constable	shades of blue … the deer’s remaining eye  cradled by bone
Honorable Mention, in alphabetical order (4)	Margaret Chula	winter dusk  my grief released  from the crow’s throat
	Michele L. Harvey	formation of geese—  a log opens  to the woodsman’s maul
	Kirsty Karkow	I seem to be  an intermittent shadow … summer clouds
	Scott Mason	bitter wind  the towhee’s song       three notes short

9th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2011

Theme Speculation	Haiku help to make our senses more alive to sounds, and colors, to  textures and odors.
Judges	Wanda Cook and Paul Miller
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	433 from 108 poets in 7 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 42:2 (Summer 2011)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print, slight damage) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Catherine J.S. Lee	falling leaves the clang of horseshoes  in the crisp air
Second Prize	Sandra Simpson	spattering rain the pulse in a sparrow’s throat
Third Prize	Jennifer Gomoll Popolis	weathered rail—  all those carved names  through my hand
Honorable Mention, unranked (4)	Melissa Allen	mice beneath the floorboards … all her small noises
	Catherine J.S. Lee	daybreak  the scent of crushed sweetgrass  where deer have lain
	Clare McCotter	the timbre  of a horse’s heart  winter sea
	Angela Terry	trying to name  the color of the sun  yellow peony

8th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2010

Theme Speculation	Many haiku of quality combine unexpectedness with inevitability—that “shock of mild surprise” (Blyth), followed immediately by the felt-significance of “Of course, that’s just as it is.”
Judges	Allan Burns and Charles Trumbull
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	377 from 99 poets in 8 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 41:2 (Summer 2010)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print, slight damage) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Carolyn Hall	mayflies— an unfinished painting on the easel
Second Prize	James Chessing	opening the door to an unexpected knock the fragrance of plum
Third Prize	Kirsty Karkow	a box turtle slowly unpacks its legs first warm day
Honorable Mention, in alphabetical order (5)	John Barlow	so few feathers left it barely has a name the melting snow
	Jennifer Corpe	Caravaggios— a passing cloud darkens the skylit room
	Carolyn Hall	autumn wind he wills his body to science
	Origa	drive-in movie the car surrounded by fireflies
	John Soules	woodsmoke— the last long weekend of the summer

7th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2009

Theme Speculation	In haiku the juxtaposition or “confrontation” of entities produces a tension charged with energy that generates an insight, intuition or felt-depth of an aspect of reality; it is a movement, a birth, that leads to a new level of awareness [Prompted in part by a passage of C.G. Jung’s].
Judges	Natalia Rudychev and Charles Trumbull
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	309 from 80 poets in 5 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 40:2 (Summer 2009)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed and previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print, slight damage) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Anne LB Davidson	spring floods— I move the sink spider to a safer spot
Second Prize	Nola Borrell	adult walk a skip in the child’s step
Third Prize	Bruce Ross	a sudden tinkling of the wind bell winter stars
Honorable Mention, in alphabetical order (5)	Stephen Gould	A redstone church—  still echoing its Angelus,  the red stone hills
	Michael McClintock	square little windows  the laughter of women  at work inside
	Scott Mason	near sunbathers       driftwood  nearly bleached
	Bill Pauly	her therapy  the basket  unwoven
	Marilyn Appl Walker	man in the moon  a newsman reports  a beheading

6th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2008

Theme Speculation	A haiku is a profound testimony that a most humble object of nature when put into the simplest of aesthetic forms can become a revelation.
Judges	Lee Gurga and Peter Yovu
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	405 from 103 poets in 9 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 39:2 (Summer 2008)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed, previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Natalia L. Rudychev	letting go    the heart of a sparrow
Second Prize	Linda Jeannette Ward	cog railway— white sky becomes snowflakes
Third Prize	Peggy Willis Lyles	daffodils— a laughing girl with rain in her shoe
Honorable Mention, in alphabetical order (5)	Janelle Barrera	wide open the roses we leave on the motel dresser
	ken hurm	lantern shadows two-teat harmony in the milk pail
	Dru Philippou	sparse shadow of the plum tree the pull of an old friend
	Sandra Simpson	hot night at the filling station songs of love
	Eduard Ţară	Shop window— winter light along the violin strings

5th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2007

Theme Speculation	If a haiku is to have life it must have rhythm or flow— for whatever life is, there is rhythm. Needless to say, this rhythm will seldom be a regular meter, but will be a rhythm or flow that is natural to the entities of the haiku and their particular relation. When the rhythm is proper to the haiku it simply will be felt in an aesthetic mode of “rightness.”
Judges	Jeffrey Winke and Charles Trumbull
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	381 from 97 poets in 11 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 38:2 (Summer 2007)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print) signed to the previous owner Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Ernest J. Berry	childhood home      i park in the shade      of my cherry stone
Second Prize	Origa	the school bell rings … the wings of a butterfly tremble                on the pin
Third Prize	Jim Kacian	followed home by a dog I don’t know autumn dusk
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	Kenneth Elba Carrier	blizzard day— extra brown sugar on my oatmeal
	Raffael de Gruttola	in the gutter a crumpled scratch card— ragweed in bloom
	Scott Mason	gathering dusk fragments of sky between limbs               become one
	Patricia Neubauer	solar eclipse— the rare silence of seagulls
	Marie Summers	family secrets a thicket full of ripe raspberries

4th Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2006

Theme Speculation	Juxtaposition of entities in haiku cannot be simply the throwing together of just anything; the poet must have the intuition that certain things, albeit of “opposite” characteristics, nonetheless have a resonance with each other that will evoke a revelation when they are juxtaposed in accordance with the time-tested canons and aesthetics of haiku.
Judges	Francine Banwarth and Charles Trumbull
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	402 from 104 poets in 7 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 37:2 (Summer 2006)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed and previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print, slight damage) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Carolyn Hall	plum blossoms I make plans for my ashes
Second Prize	John Barlow	the piano hammers barely moving … night snow
Third Prize	Jim Kacian	dusklight— I read her poem differently
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	an’ya	first snow— my child’s footprints no longer fit inside of mine
	Darrell Byrd	late winter … a king snake stretches across the road
	Peggy Heinrich	evening news the soothing weight of the quilt
	w. f. owen	snow flurries the square dancers do-si-do
	Linda Jeannette Ward	sunglints off falling snow— the silent no in her smile

3rd Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2005

Theme Speculation	It is [the] subjective aspect that accounts for very much of the difference between a haiku that is merely descriptive per se and one that engenders intuitional feeling—and this is the deciding factor between a haiku in which the poet simply records stimuli and one in which the poet is in accord with the haiku moment.
Judges	Pamela Miller Ness and Lee Gurga
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	316 from 83 poets in 10 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 36:2 (Summer 2005)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed like-new copy of Spiess’s first book, The Heron’s Legs (1966, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001). Honorable Mentions: Each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

First Prize	Carolyn Hall	wild berries— one training wheel lifts round the curve
Second Prize	Marjorie Buettner	winter light— she holds the teacup with both hands
Third Prize	Darrell Byrd	Orion rising she reaches to loosen the pup’s collar
Honorable Mention, unranked (3)	Marjorie Buettner	spring stars— washing my daughter’s lipstick off the mirror
	kirsty karkow	still arguing we swim the same river further upstream
	Marjorie Buettner	winter rain—    finding that part of silence       which speaks to me

2nd Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2004

Theme Speculation	True haiku poets do not write to demonstrate how different their haiku are from those of other haiku poets. Goethe wrote, “I have reaped the harvest that others have sown. My work is that of a collective being and it bears Goethe’s name.”
Judges	Ce Rosenow and Lee Gurga
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	191 from 104 poets in 8 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 35:2 (Summer 2004)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed and previously-loved copy of Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print, slight damage) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995).

1st Prize	Garry Gay	Autumn woods yesterday’s walking stick just where I left it
2nd Prize	Linda Jeannette Ward	late for work— one empty space petaled in wisteria
3rd Prize	Marjorie Buettner	frozen eyes of the just netted fish winter rainbow
Honorable Mention, unranked (3)	Tom Painting	the foul ball lands in an empty seat summer’s end
	Liz Fenn	rainy day … a crow on the bare branch sharpens his beak
	Marilyn Appl Walker	hide and seek among the hollyhocks August moon

1st Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards, 2003

Theme Speculation	Most haiku of excellence are serenely vibrant. Although they seldom are concerned with grand or marvelous events, or employ highly charged language, or possess startling qualities, they nonetheless are intensely alive in their quiet and deep evocation of aspects of life and the world, aspects that can easily be overlooked. In and through these haiku we are able to live more fully and with a non-exclusiveness that lets us participate in and appreciate multitudinous event-experiences.
Judges	Peggy Willis Lylesand Lee Gurga
Contest coordinator	Billie Wilson
Number of entries	376 from 193 poets in 23 countries
Results announced	Modern Haiku 34:2 (Summer 2003)
Awards	First Prize: $100 plus a signed and previously-loved copy of Bob Spiess’s The Turtle’s Ears (1971, out of print) Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Bob Spiess’s The Shape of Water (1982) Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Bob Spiess’s Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001) Honorable Mentions: each received a copy of Bob Spiess’s A Year’s Speculations on Haiku (1995)

First Prize	James Chessing	winter solitude— the lima beans soaking in half-moonlight
Second Prize	Ellen Compton	first light dark limbs of the walnut holding their snow
Third Prize	Angelee Deodhar	rumors of war up into a darkening sky —a child’s newsprint kite
Honorable Mention, unranked (5)	Connie Donleycott	summer meadow a blade of grass becomes a whistle
	Maria Steyn	deep night … a moth stirs the windchime
	Marjorie A. Buettner	steady snowfall … I make hot chocolate grandmother’s way
	Marlene J. Egger	quiet night the watchman bends to touch a rose
	Ellen Compton	gentle rain— a shimmer of pennies beneath the koi

---

Compiled by Billie Wilson and Randy Brooks (for Modern Haiku), and the Haikupedia Editors

Related Haikupedia Articles

Miscellaneous Modern Haiku Awards

Modern Haiku

Robert Spiess