The Irish Haiku Society Haiku Competition 2008 Results
The Irish Haiku Society is proud to announce the results of the first ever IHS International Haiku Competition. 177 haiku by poets from twelve countries (Ireland, UK, Northern Ireland, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Romania and Serbia) were submitted to this year’s competition. Half of the submitted poems were from the island of Ireland. This year’s competition was adjudicated by Anthony Anatoly Kudryavitsky, and it was judged blindly. It had been previously announced that an entrant may win more than one prize, which, actually, happened. The following is the list of prize-winning and highly commended haiku.
1st Prize
John Barlow (UK) receives the first prize of Euro 150 for the following haiku:
mountain stillness
an empty chrysalis
fills with sunlight
2nd Prize
The 2nd Prize of Euro 50 also goes to John Barlow (UK) for the following haiku:
summer morning
every other post
has its crow
3rd Prize
Ernest J Berry (New Zealand) receives the third prize of Euro 30 for the following haiku:
early frost
the fragrance of pine
on fire
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Highly Commended Haiku
In alphabetical order:
John Barlow (UK)
cold rain…
the fishermen wade deeper
into the lake
Sharon Dean (Australia)
winter chill
a bull ant climbs
the flame tree
Walter Daniel Maguire (Ireland)
autumn breeze –
spider’s web
convex… concave
Roland Packer (Canada)
the open gate
to an empty field –
country graveyard
Roland Packer (Canada)
Christmas Eve
swaddled in the busker’s case
a fiddle
Our congratulations go to all of the winners. We also express our sincere gratitude to the administrators of the competition, without whom… The Irish Haiku Society is planning to organise a free haiku workshop for the Irish entrants of the IHS competition, as well as for all the Irish haiku lovers who may wish to attend. Finally, plans are under way for next year’s contest. We are looking forward to turning the IHS Haiku Competition into an annual event!