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 usually attracts about 250 entries from around the globe. Atanasiu continues to coordinate the annual contest with the sponsorship and assistance of the Romanian Kukai Group.
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 Calameo 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 10 poets).
10th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2021
| Judges | Ðurđa Vukelić-Rozić, Croatia, Pre-selector Julie Warther Schwerin, U.S.A., Final Judge + Comments | |
| Conference administration | Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă, Romania, Coordinator Ana Drobot, Romania, Secretary | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results & comments published | Sharpening the Green Pencil website | |
| 1st Prize | Seren Fargo, Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A. | monarch migration— the grandparents I never knew |
| 2nd Prize | Sandra Simpson, Tauranga, New Zealand | longest night — the clay bowl’s whorls and ridges |
| 3rd Prize | Marilyn Ashbaugh, Edwardsburg, Michigan, U.S.A. | blueberry dusk a fresh crop of fireflies in the farm field |
| 1st Honorable Mention | Darrell Lindsey, Nacogdoches, Texas, U.S.A. | marquee pigeons the tale of the town in missing letters |
| 2nd Honorable Mention | Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff, Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.A. | dark pond a lone skater slices the ice into moons |
| 3rd 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 | rabbit ear iris the texture of the morning dew |
9th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2020
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Sanela Pliško, Pula, Croatia | diagnosis … how easily we become autumn leaves |
| 2nd Prize | Tracy Davidson, Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K. | bitter frost nothing left to offer the homeless man |
| 3rd Prize | Agus Maulana Sunjaya, Tangerang, Java, Indonesia | hunger moon the long shadow of this world |
| 1st Honorable Mention | Joanne van Helvoort, Beerta, The 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 |
8th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2019
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Martha Magenta, Bristol, U.K. | sea breeze … I breathe in your accent |
| 2nd Prize | Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur, India | evening chill … a paper plane stuck on barbed wire |
| 3rd Prize | Eufemia Griffo, Settimo Milanese, Italy | white butterflies thinking about everything I lost |
| Honorable Mention (3) | Pragya Vishnoi, Kanpur, India | war anniversary her daughter knows each star by name |
| Aparna Pathak, Gurugram, India | planetarium … one by one his teeth shine | |
| Zoran Doderović, Novi Sad, Serbia | morning light dripping from the wet leaves a cuckoo’s call | |
| Commended (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 |
7th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2018
| Judges | 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 | 269 from 50 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Debbie Strange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | |
| 2nd Prize (tie) | Zuzanna Truchlewska, Łaziska Górne, Poland | |
| Cristina Apetrei, Botoșani, Romania | ||
| 3rd Prize | Ramlawt Dinpuia, Aizawl, India | |
| Commended (11) | Angelo B. Ancheta, Rizal, Philippines | |
| Pris Campbell, Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.A. | ||
| Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur, India | ||
| Ivan Gaćina, Zadar, Croatia | ||
| Goran Gatalica, Zagreb, Croatia | ||
| Letitia Lucia Iubu, Craiova, Romania | ||
| Carole MacRury, Point Roberts, Washington, U.S.A. | ||
| David McMurray, Kagoshima, Japan | ||
| Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania | ||
| Dragutin Pasarić, Kutina, Croatia | ||
| Valentina Rinaldi Adams, Fairlawn, Ohio, U.S.A. | ||
| Selected Poems (13) | Theresa A. Cancro, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. | |
| Erin Castaldi, Mays Landing, New Jersey, U.S.A. | ||
| Cherese Cobb, Maryville, Tennessee, U.S.A. | ||
| Anne Curran, Hamilton, New Zealand | ||
| Małgorzata Formanowska, Wrocław, Poland | ||
| John Hawkhead, Bradford-on-Avon, U.K. | ||
| Marilyn Humbert, Sydney, Australia | ||
| Ron C. Moss, Lesley Vale, Australia | ||
| Pravat Kumar Padhy, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India | ||
| Slavica Sarkotić, Lekenik, Croatia | ||
| Olivier Schopfer, Geneva, Switzerland | ||
| Mariana Tănase, Brăila, Romania | ||
| Maria Laura Valente, Cesena, Italy |
6th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2017
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Stella Pierides, Neusäß, Germany | |
| 2nd Prize | Rodica P. Calotă, Târgu Jiu, Romania | |
| 3rd Prize (tie) | Ioana Brînzei, Botoșani, Romania | |
| Vitali Khomin, Mukachevo, Ukraine | ||
| Commended (10) | Raj Bose, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. | |
| Anna Goluba, Warsaw, Poland | ||
| Anita Guenin, San Diego, California, U.S.A. | ||
| Jonathan Humphrey, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. | ||
| Marcela Ignătescu, Drajna de Jos, Romania | ||
| Chen-ou Liu, Ajax, Ontario, Canada | ||
| Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania | ||
| Cristina Pârvu, Ploiești, Romania | ||
| Gregory Piko, Yass, New South Wales, Australia | ||
| Ali Znaidi, Redeyef, Tunisia | ||
| Selected Poems (10) | Billy Antonio, Laoac, Philippines | |
| Marta Chociłowska, Warsaw, Poland | ||
| Nadin Ghileschi, Botoșani, Romania | ||
| Nikolay Grankin, Krasnodar, Russia | ||
| Natalia Kuznetsova, Moscow, Russia | ||
| Neha R. Krishna, Mumbai, India | ||
| David Milovanović, Lapovo, Serbia | ||
| Carl Seguiban, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada | ||
| Keith A. Simmonds, Rodez, France | ||
| Gergana Yaninska, Plovdiv, Bulgaria |
5th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2016
| Judges | 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 | 250 from 45 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Archana Kapoor Nagpal, Bangalore, India | |
| 2nd Prize | Marta Chociłowska, Warsaw, Poland | |
| 3rd Prize | Marek Kozubek, Bangkok, Thailand | |
| Commended (10) | Stephanie Viaya Bose, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. | |
| Petru-Ioan Gârda, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | ||
| Rajandeep Garg, Sangrur, Punjab, India | ||
| Jacek Margolak, Kielce, Poland | ||
| Anna Maris, Överaby, Sweden | ||
| Dan Norea, Constanța, Romania | ||
| Rita Odeh, Haifa, Israel | ||
| Minh Triêt Pham, Paris, France | ||
| Vladimir Šuk, Oroslavje, Croatia | ||
| Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington, U.S.A. | ||
| Selected Poems (10) | Magdalena Banaszkiewicz, Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland | |
| Cherese Cobb, Maryville, Tennessee, U.S.A. | ||
| Nadin Ghileschi, Botoșani, Romania | ||
| Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, Birmingham, U.K. | ||
| Ajaya Mahala, Pune, Maharashtra, India | ||
| Dragan J. Ristić, Niš, Serbia | ||
| Ernesto P. Santiago, Solano, Philippines | ||
| Ken Sawitri, Blora, Central Java, Indonesia | ||
| Silva Trstenjak, Strigova, Croatia | ||
| Agnieszka Żądło, Zielonka, Poland |
4th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2015
| Judges | 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 | 286 from 40 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Roberta Beary, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. | |
| 2nd Prize | Petru-Ioan Gârda, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | |
| 3rd Prize | Chase Gagnon, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. | |
| Commended (10) | Gabriel Alexe, Botoșani, Romania | |
| Francesco de Sabata, Pescantina, Italy | ||
| Marilyn Humbert, Sydney, Australia | ||
| Nina Kovačić, Zagreb, Croatia | ||
| Andrius Luneckas, Vilnius, Lithuania | ||
| Boris Nazansky, Zagreb, Croatia | ||
| Minh-Triêt Pham, Paris, France | ||
| Shloka Shankar, Bangalore, India | ||
| Debbie Strange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | ||
| Božena Zernec, Krapina, Croatia |
3rd Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2014
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Dorota Pyra, Gdańsk, Poland | |
| 2nd Prize | Chase Gagnon, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. | |
| 3rd Prize | Minh-Triêt Pham, Paris, France | |
| Commended (10) | Margaret Beverland, Katikati, New Zealand | |
| Bouwe Brouwer, Sneek, The Netherlands | ||
| Frank Dietrich, Düsseldorf, Germany | ||
| Jan Dobb, Canberra, Australia | ||
| Anna Goluba, Warsaw, Poland | ||
| Devin Harrison, Vancouver, Canada | ||
| Krzysztof Kokot, Nowy Targ, Poland | ||
| Angelica Seithe, Wettenberg, Germany | ||
| Keith A. Simmonds, Rodez, France | ||
| Vania Stefanova, Sliven, Bulgaria |
2nd Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2013
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Asni Amin, Singapore | |
| 2nd Prize | Ðurđa Vukelić Rožić, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia | |
| 3rd Prize | Rita Odeh, Nazareth, Israel | |
| Commended (10) | Billy Antonio, Laoac, Philippines | |
| Ellen Compton, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. | ||
| Nikola Ðuretić, Zagreb, Croatia | ||
| Vitali Khomin, Mukachevo, Ukraine | ||
| Brian Robertson, Toronto, Canada | ||
| Borivoje Sekulić, Lakarak, Serbia | ||
| Artūras Šilanskas, Vilnius, Lithuania | ||
| Sandra Simpson, Tauranga, New Zealand | ||
| Anna Świtalska Jopek, Gdańsk, Poland | ||
| Kate Yaroshyna, Minsk, Belarus |
1st Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2012
| Judges | 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 | |
| 1st Prize | Artūras Šilanskas, Vilnius, Lithuania | |
| 2nd Prize | Andrea Cecon, Cividale del Friuli, Italy | |
| 3rd Prize | Karen O’Leary, West Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A. | |
| Commended (7) | Ljubomir Dragović, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Darrell Lindsey, Nacogdoches, Texas, U.S.A. | ||
| Ljubomir Radovančević, Zagreb, Croatia | ||
| Bruce Ross, Bangor, Maine, U.S.A. | ||
| Sandra Simpson, Tauranga, New Zealand | ||
| Dietmar Tauchner, Puchberg, Austria | ||
| Herwig Verleyen, Bruges, Belgium |
COMPILED BY: The Haikupedia editors
SOURCE: Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, Sharpening the Green Pencil website: http://sharpeningthegreenpencil.blogspot.com