Over the past 15 years I was privileged to work with Janice on many haiku activities including the international promotion of her work. As a tribute I offer this summary paragraph taken from my nomination of her in 2003 for the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize.

“
Summary

Let me summarise Janice M. Bostok’s involvement in writing haiku and in her promotion of haiku in English within Australia.

Having contributed significantly to the world-wide development of haiku, she pioneered haiku in Australia and, to this day, she continues to be the driving force behind its outstanding progress, both in volume and quality, and its acceptance in literary circles and the broad community. Without her, neither the First Australian Haiku Anthology nor the Australian Haiku Society would exist. She is the inspirational leader of haiku on this continent.

Nomination

I am proud to nominate her for the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize.

John Bird”