The Wild Plum Haiku Contest was inaugurated in 2015 by Maria Tomczak and Gabriel Sawicki of Poland, editors of the online haiku journal Wild Plum. Although the journal ceased publication in 2017, the annual contest continued through 2020.
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Description
The Wild Plum Haiku Contest dated from 2015 and was the inspiration of Polish haiku poets Maria Tomczak and Gabriel Sawicki. The annual online contest for haikai in English was based on the website of the haiku e-journal Wild Plum. Although the journal ceased publication in 2017, the contest continued for three more years.
The contest was open to all poets. There were no themes or regulations as to syllable count or type of haiku that would be considered. Senryu were acceptable, and haiku were not required to have a kigo (seasonal word).
A contest entry form was made available on the Wild Plum Contest website. Only one poem per person was allowed. There was no entry fee. The deadline for submissions was usually in January and the winners were announced no later than April. Winners received a diploma, and the results were published on the Wild Plum Contest website.1
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2020
| Judges | Maria Tomczak & Gabriel Sawicki | ||
| Number of entries | 234 from poets in 35 countries | ||
| 1st Prize | Ramesh Anand, India | autumn dusk— just the chirps of a skipping stone | |
| 2nd Prize | Jay Friedenberg, U.S.A. | razor wire what separates the haves from the have-nots | |
| 3rd Prize | Andrzej Dembończyk, Poland | dawn with the first snowflakes grandma’s gone | |
| Honorable Mentions (5) | Vanessa Proctor, Australia | misty moorland … taking shape the antlers of a highland stag | |
| Shkoka Shankar, India | picked wildflowers who grants you this freedom? | ||
| Małgorzata Formanowska, Poland | winter twilight one by one crows | ||
| Tia Haynes, U.S.A. | river path … the stones we forget to throw | ||
| Azi Kuder, Poland | cracking ice I’m taking with me the moon |
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2019
| Judges | Maria Tomczak & Gabriel Sawicki | |
| Number of entries | 257 from poets in 36 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Rajandeep Garg, India | dried stream each and every pebble we had thrown |
| 2nd Prize | arvinder kaur, India | how random the shape of things to come— dandelions |
| 3rd Prize | Erin Castaldi, U.S.A. | between us a rock and moss drifting clouds |
| Honorable Mentions (5) | Chen-ou Liu, Canada | foggy morning … the bits and pieces of me in Father’s mind |
| Roman Lyakhovetsky, Israel | dripstone cave the world is not the same as two drops ago | |
| Olivier Schopfer, Switzerland | summer wind taking shape clothesline | |
| Carl Seguiban, Canada | sweltering heat— the child’s shadow— over felled trees | |
| Neal Whitman, U.S.A. | a sad buffet of wilted leftovers my salad days |
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2018
| Judges | Maria Tomczak & Gabriel Sawicki | |
| Number of entries | 312 from poets in 41 countries | |
| 1st Prize | John Barlow, England | scattering what’s dead and what’s still alive the autumn wind |
| 2nd Prize | Aalix Roake, New Zealand | too many bones to sing a young song |
| 3rd Prize | Kanchan Chatterjee, India | autumn rains … in the field a half sunk paper boat |
| Honorable Mentions (9) | Adjei Agyei-Baa, Ghana | crossroad stopping for each other a dung beetle and i |
| Jan Dobb, Australia | downpour a zillion scents ascend into summer | |
| Goran Gatalica, Croatia | war approaching rattle of sparrow’s bones on autumn breeze | |
| Krzysztof Kokot, Poland | drizzle— the tea brewing ceremony and mosquito | |
| Azi Kuder, Poland | Milky Way I’m stuck on a glass of wine | |
| Nika, Canada | sea breeze dad’s ashes drift back to the boat | |
| Tsanka Shiskova, Bulgaria | snowfall … just traces of birds outside my door | |
| Christine L. Villa, U.S.A. | my voice cracks trying not to tell him eggshells | |
| Marilyn Appl Walker, U.S.A. | sweet alyssum a lullaby of rain on a tin tub |
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2017
| Judge | Maria Tomczak, Poland | |
| Number of entries | 263 from poets in 42 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Sandi Pray, U.S.A. | with an answer for everything the tree of crows |
| 2nd Prize | Heiki Gewi, Germany / Yemen | Old pond— thought by thought a crack deepens |
| 3rd Prize | Eduard Țară, Romania | end of summer— stitching the clouds with a skipping stone |
| Honorable Mentions (10) | Lavana Kray, Romania | old hands getting new wings— snow angel |
| Azi Kuder, Poland | hills and valleys how many strokes of brush to the river? | |
| Scott Mason, U.S.A. | empty shell the wind intones my sins of omission | |
| Polona Oblak, Slovenia | sick child … a fly’s thin buzz vibrates the orb web | |
| Anthony Q. Rabang, Philippines | silent rain grandma weaves war memories | |
| Kala Ramesh, India | waiting room a spider hangs on silence | |
| Carl Seguiban, Canada | unbraiding her long black hair— April showers | |
| Christina Sng, Singapore | oyster pearls finding myself again after motherhood | |
| Rachel Sutcliffe, England | snow melt even your footsteps have gone | |
| Dietmar Tauchner, Austria | last light the scent of lilac long after |
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2016
| Judge | an’ya, U.S.A. | |
| Number of entries | 307 from poets in 43 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Terri L. French, U.S.A. | January … loneliness knitted into a scarf |
| 2nd Prize | Jan Dobb, Australia | drifts of leaves we listen to the colours of grandma’s tales |
| 3rd Prize | Lavana Kray, Romania | black clouds rumble our cotton candies stick to one another |
| 1st Honorable Mention | Jayashree Maniyil, Australia | crackle of twigs everywhere the smoke gathering the sky |
| 2nd Honorable Mention | Don Baird, U.S.A. | flaccid breeze so many leaves hang in the balance |
| 3rd Honorable Mention | Viviane Leite, Brazil | Summer barbecue Everybody could make it Even this shower |
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2015
| Judge | Gillena Cox | |
| Number of entries | 105 from poets in 27 countries | |
| 1st Prize | Steliana Cristina Voicu, Romania | embracing the boundless— an empty boat closer to the moon |
| 2nd Prize | Eduard Țară, Romania | long after the song of the first bird is over— swaying cherry twig |
| 3rd Prize | Vanessa Proctor, Australia | an open door evening shadows reach out to frogsong |
| Honorable Mentions (6) | Simon Hanson,, Australia | shaping water and my reverie river stones |
| Kanchan Chatterjee, India | December … just a grassblade to stare at | |
| Marietta McGregor, Australia | my kitchen garden overrun with orange pumpkins the weight of summer | |
| Ernest J Berry, New Zealand | west wind a mocking-bird fashions it into lyrics | |
| Carl Seguiban, Canada | endless night— mother scrapes darkness off the kettle | |
| Angelee Deodhar, India | rain after rain— just one magnolia offered to the stone Jizo |
Compiled by Maria Tomczak & Gabriel Sawicki
Adapted from the Wild Plum Haiku Contest Website
Sources / Further Reading
- Wild Plum website: https://wildplumhaiku.wordpress.com.
Related Haikupedia Articles
Wild Plum journal
Haiku in Poland
Notes
- The website was still accessible in May 2023 at https://wildplumhaiku.wordpress.com/current-issue/. [↩]