Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest (2012– )

Sharpening the Green Pencil is an international online haiku competition begun in Romania in 2012 by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu. It is one of the top English-language haiku contests based in Europe and has usually attracted more than 200 entries from around the globe. Atanasiu continues to coordinate the annual contest with the sponsorship and assistance of the Romanian Kukai Group. Contest entries are gathered into a print and digital publication, Sharpening the Green Pencil [year]: The Book of the Contest.

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General Information

The Sharpening the Green Pencil haiku contest is open to anyone regardless of age or nationality. Submissions are accepted during the month of February and should consist of one haiku in English not previously published in any form print or electronic nor under consideration in any other contest. Poets are asked to submit a version in their haiku in their native language as well.

There is no prescribed theme. The recommended style is contemporary: three lines within the 5–7–5–syllable pattern but no strict syllable count.

There is no charge to enter the contest. An entry form is available on the contest website.

The contest’s name is taken from a haiku of Elena Manta Ciubotariu’s that won an award in the 1995 Hawai’i Education Association Contest:

Spring
The child sharpens
The green pencil

Contest results are announced each year on April 1 on the Sharpening the Green Pencil website and the contest entries are gathered and published by Calamēo in an e-book in English, Romanian, and the original language. The books are also accessible from the website.

Prizes are books and diplomas for the top winners and diplomas for the recipients of commendations (normally ten poets total).

15^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2026

Judge	Scott Mason
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
Contest administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	Not stated
Grand Prize	Chen-ou Liu, Canada	blossom rain between earth and sky somehow, us
First Prize	Daniela Misso, Italy	wind in the willows … light and shadows in a kiss
Second Prize	Joshua St. Claire, U.S.A.	snow coming a crow’s caw fills the universe
Third Prize	Debbie Strange, Canada	ragged clouds the sleeping bag inside a refrigerator box
Honorable Mention (3)	Tomislav Maretić, Croatia	mountain road when the bus doors open blackbird song
	Joanna Ashwell, U.K.	a blackbird hopping branch to branch the dazzle of snow
	Darrell Lindsey, U.S.A.	on the ridge with a horse and its rider heat lightning
Commended (3)	Ulrike Titelbach, Austria	first new moon snow is falling out of the dark
	Gavin Austin, Australia	country lane tree shadows lengthen with magpie song
	Ravi Kiran, India	holding a pencil at the eraser end retired choirmaster

14^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2025

Jury	Cristina-Monica Moldoveanu, Preselector; Ed Bremson, Final Judge
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
Contest administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	Not stated
First Prize	Sebastian Chrobak, Bielsko-Biała, Poland	between lightning and thunder a farewell kiss
Second Prize	Dylan Stover, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, U.S.A.	puzzle piece the wind’s solution leaf by leaf
Third Prize	Peter Free, Lower Hutt, New Zealand	fireworks the emptiness left as the crowd moves on
Honorable Mention (3)	Joshua St. Claire, New Freedom, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.	a stand of sycamores seventeen legs of deer in winter rain
	Scott Mason, Somers, New York, U.S.A.	along the shoreline collecting my thoughts sandpipers
	Marion Clarke, Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland	late summer light filling the house wild peaches
Commended (3)	Cristian Pietraru, Darabani, Romania	dust rising from the old dry pond … distant thunder
	Tracy Davidson, Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.	another blizzard losing myself in another jigsaw
	Ruth Holzer, Potomac Falls, Virginia, U.S.A.	the sudden flash of a kingfisher blue evening

13^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2024

Jury	Monica Iordan, Preselector; Barrie Levine, Final Judge
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
Contest administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	Not stated
Joint First Place	Debbie Strange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	cattle roundup a charred bean can full of rain
	Paul Callus,   Ħal Safi, Malta	hopping from one twig to another— a warbler’s song
Second Place	Edward Huddleston, Baxley, Georgia, U.S.A.	pine sap sticking to our story
Third Place	Rajandeep Garg, Sangrur, Punjab, India	as if the wind knows my name  childhood lane
First Honorable Mention	Nadejda Kostadinova, Sofia, Bulgaria	sea horizon the straight line of a little girl’s fringe
Second Honorable Mention	Tom Bierovic,   DeLand, Florida, U.S.A.	the long whiskers of a fingerpaint cat winter rain
Third Honorable Mention	Kerry J Heckman, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.	wishing there was a duolingo— morning birdsong
Commended (3), unranked	Nada Jačmenica,   Sveti Križ Začretje,  Croatia	a withered rose— in my camera still a bud
	Gavin Austin, Sydney, Australia	faded cosmos a monarch riding  the last of summer
	Yasmina Butnaru, Botoșani, Romania	dry pond … the unsent letter becomes  a paper frog

12^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2023

Jury	Seren Fargo, Preselector; Kit Nagamura, Final Judge and Comments
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
Contest administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	Not stated
First Place	Srinivasa Rao Sambangi, Hyderabad, India	half time  my son and I exchange  our goal posts
Second Place	Addison Redley, London, U.K.	yesterday’s news  in a wire basket  another war
Third Place	Cristina-Valeria Apetrei, Saveni, Romania	first light  the trail to his burial place  speckled with petals
Honorable Mention (3)	Daniela Misso, San Gemini (TR), Italy	winter deepens …  in an old coat pocket blue glass beads
	Sandra St-Laurent, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada	fall’s carpet  the crisp sound of crème brûlée
	Marion Clarke, Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, U.K.	star by star  the lane lights up …  snowdrops
Commendation (3)	Ruwanka Jayatillake, Calgary, Alberta, Canada	unsold roses  in the dumpster  valentine’s day
	Ivan Gaćina, Zadar, Croatia	my last-ditch effort  to keep you with me … dandelion fluffs
	Viktoriya Marinova, Sofia, Bulgaria	foggy morning  the unpicked rose hips  in signal red

11^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2022

Jury	Alan Peat, Final Judge
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
Contest administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	Not stated
Joint First Place	Ramesh Anand, Chennai, India	spring’s shadow the young nurse mothers my mother
	Richard Thomas, Plymouth, U.K.	silver lining— what the storm takes from the magpie’s fable
Second Place	Luminița Petrea, Botoșani, Romania	crane feather between heaven and earth a flying kigo
Third Place	Lisa Anne Johnson, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.	late winter— a coffee ring settling beside the coaster
Honorable Mention (3)	Neena Singh, Chandigarh, India	kite-flying … a street child colors the unmasked sky
	Vandana Parashar, Panchkula, Haryana, India	waterfall not falling for you not falling for me
	Henryk Czempiel, Strzelce Opolskie, Poland	Kiev nights checking again if any star falls
Commendation (3)	Vitaly Svirin, St. Petersburg, Russia	in the wind’s voice there are notes of disquiet … the bending pines groan.
	Adrian Bouter, Gouda, Netherlands	reading Rilke reminds me of autumn— refugee flows
	Richa Sharma, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India	unexpected rain his apology letter post-marriage

10^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2021

Judges	Ðurđa Vukelić-Rozić, Croatia, Pre-selector; Julie Warther Schwerin, U.S.A., Final Judge and Comments
Conference administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	205 from 40 countries
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
First Place	Seren Fargo,  Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.	monarch migration— the grandparents I never knew
Second Place	Sandra Simpson,  Tauranga, New Zealand	longest night— the clay bowl’s whorls and ridges
Third Place	Marilyn Ashbaugh,  Edwardsburg, Michigan, U.S.A.	blueberry dusk a fresh crop of fireflies in the farm field
First Honorable Mention	Darrell Lindsey,  Nacogdoches, Texas, U.S.A.	marquee pigeons the tale of the town in missing letters
Second Honorable Mention	Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff, Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A.	dark pond a lone skater slices the ice into moons
Third Honorable Mention	Marietta McGregor, Canberra, Australia	whipsnap wind … another day’s worries hung out to dry
1st Commended	Billy Antonio, Laoac, Philippines	war veteran’s tale bonfire embers reach the Milky Way
2nd Commended	Aljoša Vuković, Šibenik, Croatia	summer breeze— new lovers on an old bench
3rd Commended	Kimberley Sanson, France	rabbit ear iris the texture of the morning dew

9^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2020

Jury	Michael Dylan Welch, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă,  Dan Doman, and Cristina Young, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Secretary
Number of entries	176 from 44 countries
Results & comments published	Sharpening the Green Pencil website
First Prize	Sanela Pliško, Pula, Croatia	diagnosis … how easily we become autumn leaves
Second Prize	Tracy Davidson, Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.	bitter frost nothing left to offer the homeless man
Third Prize	Agus Maulana Sunjaya, Tangerang, Java, Indonesia	hunger moon the long shadow of this world
1st Honorable Mention	Joanne van Helvoort, Beerta, Netherlands	four years now the pink fairy dress she would have worn
2nd Honorable Mention	Antonio Martínez Rubio, Villarrobledo, Albacete, Spain	no names … on the common grave spring wildflowers
3rd Honorable Mention	Olivier Schopfer, Geneva, Switzerland	adding milk to my tea … the many shapes of morning clouds
1st Commended	Louise Hopewell, Melbourne, Australia	asked to give yet another eulogy biting wind
2nd Commended	Rodica Stefan, Bucharest, Romania	snowdrops bowed with the dew— morning prayer
3rd Commended	Radostina Dragostinova, Sofia, Bulgaria	evening chill under the pear tree the smile of a strange woman

8^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2019

Jury	Jim Kacian, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Dan Doman, and Lavana Kray, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, Secretary Ana Drobot, Translator
Number of entries	224 from 41 countries
First Prize	Martha Magenta, Bristol, U.K.	sea breeze … I breathe in your accent
Second Prize	Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India	evening chill … a paper plane stuck on barbed wire
Third Prize	Eufemia Griffo, Settimo Milanese, Milan, Italy	white butterflies thinking about everything I lost
Honorable Mention (3)	Pragya Vishnoi, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India	war anniversary her daughter knows each star by name
	Aparna Pathak, Gurugram, Haryana, India	planetarium … one by one his teeth shine
	Zoran Doderović, Novi Sad, Serbia	morning light dripping from the wet leaves a cuckoo’s call
Commendation (5)	Miljenko Šimunović, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia	last chemo session— the snow-snakes pouring tears from magnolia tree
	Deborah Karl-Brandt, Bonn, Germany	First snow of the year The telephone starts to shrill
	Chirag Tulsiani, Kolkata, India	family reunion— we spit out seeds  like before …
	Wilfredo R. Bongcaron, Manila, Philippines	waning moon— the cicadas’ sudden silence
	Cynthia Rowe, Sydney, Australia	receding shore— the refugee’s doll  trailing kelp

7^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2018

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar Florin Ciobîcăand Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Cristina Oprea Young and Eduard Țară, Secretaries; Ana Drobot, English Advisor
Number of entries	269 from 50 countries
First Prize	Debbie Strange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	frozen trough I cup the warm breath of my horse
Second Prize (tie)	Zuzanna Truchlewska, Łaziska Górne, Silesia, Poland	after the war … in a barrel of a tank bird’s nest
	Cristina Apetrei, Botoșani, Romania	Harvest Day the last cricket fills my piggy-bank
Third Prize (disqualified because of previous publication)	Ramlawt Dinpuia, Aizawl, Mizoram, India	morning cicada a boy in the asylum recites his prayer
Commendation (11)	Angelo B. Ancheta, Rizal, Luzon, Philippines	super blood moon the scent of a woman in red
	Pris Campbell, Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.A.	scattered sand … baby sea turtles return to the stars
	Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India	summer field … a farmer talks to his goat while chewing a grass
	Ivan Gaćina, Zadar, Croatia	oak woods … a woodpecker arranges the night silence
	Goran Gatalica, Zagreb, Croatia	winter dawn— small refugee takes breath in a tank car
	Letitia Lucia Iubu, Craiova, Romania	other ships and other sailors— the sea is the same
	Carole MacRury, Point Roberts, Washington, U.S.A.	oh to have the heron’s hollow bones— the weight of winter
	David McMurray, Kagoshima, Japan	Cherry-colored mist rolls along curves and valley— blind masseuse’s hands
	Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania	everything unchanged— the rip in the curtain woven by a spider
	Dragutin Pasarić, Kutina, Croatia	a winter travelogue— over distant glades I follow the trail of a doe
	Valentina Rinaldi Adams, Fairlawn, Ohio, U.S.A.	hearing aids— birds sing anew
Selected Poems (13)	Theresa A. Cancro, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.	wild violets brushing her cheek the shadow of a bruise
	Erin Castaldi, Mays Landing, New Jersey, U.S.A.	pressed flowers tucked in pages first hallelujah
	Cherese Cobb, Maryville, Tennessee, U.S.A.	Día de los Muertos scrubbing from your headstone— our last conversation
	Anne Curran, Hamilton, New Zealand	Nana pieces together her jigsaw puzzle … summer afternoon
	Małgorzata Formanowska, Wrocław, Poland	funeral— on grandma’s armchair unfinished needlework
	John Hawkhead, Bradford-on-Avon, U.K.	night glimmered river the poacher casts a net over someone’s stars
	Marilyn Humbert, Sydney, Australia	slow day in the garden a snail overtakes me
	Ron C. Moss, Lesley Vale, Tasmania, Australia	sick with fever … one white duck on dark water
	Pravat Kumar Padhy, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India	in between thunders of wave— receding silence
	Slavica Sarkotić, Lekenik, Croatia	on wrinkled newspaper winter stories and photos burning in the stove
	Olivier Schopfer, Geneva, Switzerland	blowing dust off a secondhand book autumn fog
	Mariana Tănase, Brăila, Romania	the fallen branch— on the large snow mantle stretch a new graffiti
	Maria Laura Valente, Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy	day hospital— the hushed catharsis of the snow

6^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2017

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Eduard Țară, Secretary;  Cristina Oprea and  Ana Drobot, Translators
Number of entries	275 from 45 countries
First Prize	Stella Pierides, Neusäß, Germany	refugee child— folding and unfolding his paper boat
Second Prize	Rodica P. Calotă, Târgu Jiu, Romania	Table of Silence— we can hear the moonbeam polishing the stone
Third Prize (tie)	Ioana Brînzei, Botoșani, Romania	winter night— somebody’s footprints lead to the moon
	Vitali Khomin, Mukachevo, Ukraine	the ashes of the temple as if nothing had happened plum blossoms
Commendation (10)	Raj Bose, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.	Hot summer day Nodding in agreement Lizard and I
	Anna Goluba, Warsaw, Poland	Winter night … Untouched whiteness Of her diary’s pages
	Anita Guenin, San Diego, California, U.S.A.	borrowed time— I put more honey in my tea
	Jonathan Humphrey, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.	sewing needle’s sheen— a cricket cleans its antenna
	Marcela Ignătescu, Drajna de Jos, Romania	snowfall over the village— having the grandson on her lap evening prayer
	Chen-ou Liu, Ajax, Ontario, Canada	two lines on the test a pregnant silence fills our bedroom
	Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania	carrousel in winter— a child puts his scarf around the horse’s neck
	Cristina Pârvu, Ploiești, Romania	flowers over the grave— between me and mum the cherry tree’s fragrance
	Gregory Piko, Yass, New South Wales, Australia	this beach of pebbles after the wave my life rearranged
	Ali Znaidi, Redeyef, Tunisia	words we couldn’t say … sirocco gusts
Selected Poems (10)	Billy Antonio, Laoac, Pangasinan, Philippines	midday sun shadow of a tree shadow of a bird
	Marta Chociłowska, Warsaw, Poland	family reunion in the shade of an old chestnut one vacant chair
	Nadin Ghileschi, Botoșani, Romania	unmotivated absence— in the public garden the blackbird’s song
	Nikolay Grankin, Krasnodar, Russia	early frosts my shirt on the clothesline takes the form of wind
	Natalia Kuznetsova, Moscow, Russia	forget-me-nots all over no man’s land— fragile truce
	Neha R. Krishna, Mumbai, India	a flock of starlings drawing patterns in the sky fetal ultrasound
	David Milovanović, Lapovo, Serbia	back home there’s still that little boy in the grimy mirror
	Carl Seguiban, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada	monsoon days the path to her doorstep waist deep in stars
	Keith A. Simmonds, Rodez, Aveyron, France	Grandma spring cleaning … the odour of time lingers in her rooms
	Gergana Yaninska, Plovdiv, Bulgaria	origami frogs jump toward the finish line children’s ward

5^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2016

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and  Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Cristina Oprea and Eduard Țară, Secretaries; Ana Drobot, English Advisor
Number of entries	250 from 45 countries
First Prize	Archana Kapoor Nagpal, Bangalore, India	fogbound … singing rhymes to the baby in my womb
Second Prize	Marta Chociłowska, Warsaw, Poland	cutting reeds piece by piece the backwater turns blue
Third Prize	Marek Kozubek, Bangkok, Thailand	stone Buddha— I learn to forgive a mosquito
Commendation (10)	Stephanie Viaya Bose, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.	dad’s life the bite marks on his pipe
	Petru-Ioan Gârda, Cluj-Napoca, Romania	new buds next to the crosses— the cemetery comes back to life again
	Rajandeep Garg, Sangrur, Punjab, India	wood silence … each thought unstrings to a bird song
	Jacek Margolak, Kielce, Poland	spring cleaning I take out of the shoe box my childhood
	Anna Maris, Överby, Sweden	spring rain an old letter unfolded again
	Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania	a wheelchair— carefully avoiding the lines of hopscotch
	Rita Odeh, Haifa, Israel	some seeds in his pockets … the refugee
	Minh Triêt Pham, Paris, France	summer mountain lake— she’s taking her swimsuit off and my doubts away
	Vladimir Šuk, Oroslavje, Croatia	dry stone wall a young lizard gathers the sunrays
	Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington, U.S.A.	playing and falling the children the snow
Selected Poems (10)	Magdalena Banaszkiewicz, Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland	so close to each other— the stars mingle with the campfire sparks
	Cherese Cobb, Maryville, Tennessee, U.S.A.	line of ants one by one, the old woman counts her grandchildren
	Nadin Ghileschi, Botoșani, Romania	first cruise on the curtain folds a spider
	Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, Birmingham, U.K.	autumn wind— a toy guitar scrapes the wall
	Ajaya Mahala, Pune, Maharashtra, India	first cruise on the curtain folds a spider
	Dragan J. Ristić, Niš, Serbia	pale chrysanthemum— the picture of a merry woman on the tombstone
	Ernesto P. Santiago, Solano, Philippines	a quarter moon— my mother measures the rain barrel
	Ken Sawitri, Blora, Central Java, Indonesia	migrant’s shelters above them the wandering moon
	Silva Trstenjak, Štrigova, Croatia	on the lavender stalk a snail getting ready for tomorrow’s date
	Agnieszka Żądło, Zielonka, Poland	too tight elevator enjoying the talk is falling each floor

4^th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2015

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and  Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Cristina Oprea and Eduard Țară, Secretaries
Number of entries	286 from 40 countries
First Prize	Roberta Beary, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.	quiet rain … a robin slips through my chemo fog
Second Prize	Petru-Ioan Gârda, Cluj-Napoca, Romania	whisper of spring— snowdrops besieging a cartridge case
Third Prize	Chase Gagnon, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.	stargazing … the warmth of the sun still in her hair
Commendation (10)	Gabriel Alexe, Botoșani, Romania	bent tree … the last apple plunging into the fountain’s abyss
	Francesco de Sabata, Pescantina, Verona Italy	all the shadows join together at evening— I stay alone
	Marilyn Humbert, Sydney, Australia	spiderlings hitch a ride on thistledown— new beginnings
	Nina Kovačić, Zagreb, Croatia	The first day of school— her legs waving on a bench far from the floor
	Andrius Luneckas, Vilnius, Lithuania	war soldiers on both sides of grass
	Boris Nazansky, Zagreb, Croatia	scorching heat dragonfly’s eyes reflect dry pebbles
	Minh-Triêt Pham, Paris, France	mist rising— the castle ruins reconstituted
	Shloka Shankar, Bangalore, India	trench lines in the bramble a soldier’s sigh
	Debbie Strange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	out to pasture only the wind upon her bent back
	Božena Zernec, Krapina, Croatia	how harmlessly they rustle in the breeze, the poppy capsules

3^rd Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2014

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and  Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Eduard Țară, Secretary
Number of entries	264 from 47 countries
First Prize	Dorota Pyra, Gdańsk, Poland	snowy orchard the smell of summer in a baked apple
Second Prize	Chase Gagnon, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.	humid night … a tadpole breaks the surface of ancient stars
Third Prize	Minh-Triêt Pham, Paris, France	carnival wig— a touch of fantasy during chemo
Commendation (10)	Margaret Beverland, Katikati, New Zealand	never missing a wingbeat migrating geese
	Bouwe Brouwer, Sneek, Netherlands	falling leaves slowly the fading light enters my room
	Frank Dietrich, Düsseldorf, Germany	autumn equinox— cutting an apple in half
	Jan Dobb, Canberra, Australia	windswept sky a collie on the hillside shifting sheep
	Anna Goluba, Warsaw, Poland	Foggy evening— The old boat Sinks in the silence
	Devin Harrison, Vancouver, Canada	growing old the snow from childhood rests on my shoulders
	Krzysztof Kokot, Nowy Targ, Poland	pale girl— on the hospital lawn primroses bloom
	Angelica Seithe, Wettenberg, Germany	fresh snow no traces left between us
	Keith A. Simmonds, Rodez, France	tumultuous waves … a fisherman’s boat stumbles into a rainbow
	Vania Stefanova, Sliven, Bulgaria	a fox cub lying in the red clay another sunset

2^nd Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2013

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and  Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Eduard Țară, Secretary
Number of entries	199 from 38 countries
First Prize	Asni Amin, Singapore	letting go … the butterflies I’ll never see again
Second Prize	Ðurđa Vukelić Rožić, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia	fishing with father— an empty bucket full of unforgetfulness
Third Prize	Rita Odeh, Nazareth, Israel	dark mirror— the coldness of that single dangling breast
Commendation (10)	Billy Antonio, Laoac, Philippines	moss-covered well— I think of all summers past bathing as a boy
	Ellen Compton, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.	rereading the lab report … violets in the rain
	Nikola Ðuretić, Zagreb, Croatia	silent winter night but never like this one in Issa’s haiku
	Vitali Khomin, Mukachevo, Ukraine	warm evening on the threshold of the church a snail slumbers
	Brian Robertson, Toronto, Canada	quiet kitchen as ashtray full of words I can’t take back
	Borivoje Sekulić, Laćarak, Serbia	deep thoughts an ant’s bite brings me back to reality
	Artūras Šilanskas, Vilnius, Lithuania	frosted buds I wonder how it feels writing a jisei
	Sandra Simpson, Tauranga, New Zealand	evening breeze— tiny crabs move the beach grain by grain
	Anna Świtalska Jopek, Gdańsk, Poland	autumn wind clatter of wooden hangers in my wardrobe
	Kate Yaroshyna, Minsk, Belarus	all inclusive. the fly is stiffened in amber

1^st Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2012

Jury	Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, President of the Jury; Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă and  Dan Doman, Members of the Jury
Conference administration	Eduard Țară, Secretary
Number of entries	280 poems by 140 participants from 31 countries
First Prize	Artūras Šilanskas, Vilnius, Lithuania	the hunter’s moon a night is not enough to get the point
Second Prize	Andrea Cecon, Cividale del Friuli, Italy	falling leaves one by one my old friends
Third Prize	Karen O’Leary, West Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A.	rattling windows dad gasps his final breath during a blizzard
Commendation (7)	Ljubomir Dragović, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina	whiz of a scythe in the transparent blueness larks’ undersongs
	Darrell Lindsey, Nacogdoches, Texas, U.S.A.	sumi-e mountains a blackbird tries to fly from the drying ink
	Ljubomir Radovančević, Zagreb, Croatia	snow storm— petrified raven traveling on a withered tree
	Bruce Ross, Bangor, Maine, U.S.A.	in the dream my dead friend has to go winter solstice
	Sandra Simpson, Tauranga, New Zealand	peach season— the way his foot fits my hand
	Dietmar Tauchner, Puchberg, Austria	woodland the silence of history
	Herwig Verleyen, Bruges, Belgium	His roots and branches hold earth and sky together— the old oak tree.

Compiled by the Romanian Kukai Group and the Haikupedia Editors

Sources / Further Reading

• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, Sharpening the Green Pencil website: http://sharpeningthegreenpencil.blogspot.com.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2012: The Book of the Contest. Romania: Romanian Kukai Group / Calameo, 2012. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/read/000002246d6a89964e763.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2013: The Book of the Contest. Romania: Romanian Kukai Group / Calameo, 2013. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/read/000002246ef1a9f9ca2a0.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2014: The Book of the Contest. Romania: Romanian Kukai Group / Calameo, 2014. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/read/0000022460161f354dd40.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2015: The Book of the Contest. Romania: Romanian Kukai Group / Calamēo, 2015. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/books/0000022463fb70fa32081.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2016: The Book of the Contest. Romania: Romanian Kukai Group / Calamēo, 2016. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/books/0000022460b4f038b2382.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2017: The Book of the Contest. Romanian Kukai Group / Calamēo, 2017. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/read/0000022460b4f038b2382.
• Atanasiu, Corneliu Traian, coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2018: The Book of the Contest. Romanian Kukai Group / Calamēo, 2018. Available online from Calamēo: https://www.calameo.com/read/000002246e8e40e0c5010.