1. Conditions for submission:
Only unpublished English haiku poems are eligible for submission. Each applicant may submit up to two poems. A Japanese translation should be included with each poem when possible, but non-Japanese applicants are not required to attach a translation.

2. Judging:
An initial screening will select haiku to be displayed in the Haiku Submission Collection. A second screening will determine prize winners from among these selected works. The judging panel will consist of Takeshi Iijima (President of the International Association of Japanese Studies, Professor Emeritus of Yamagata University), Noboru Oba (English Haiku Contest Executive Committee President, former President of the Yamagata Prefecture English Education Research Association), Joe Maricoji (poet and critic), and Lisa Somers (translator, Yamagata University part-time instructor).

3. Divisions:
(1) Division One: college students, general public
(2) Division Two : junior high school students
(3) Division Three: high school students
(4) Division Four: non-Japanese

4. Application procedure:
Haiku submissions may be submitted by post, email, or fax. Applicants are requested to give their division, name, age and sex (optional), and contact information (address, phone number, email address [if any]). Age, sex, and contact information will not be made public. Junior and senior high school students should include their school name and grade, and Japanese applicants are asked to give the phonetic reading of their name.

5. Participation fee:
None.

6. Deadline:
Applications should be postmarked no later than Saturday, June 7, 2014.

7. Submissions:
Haiku submissions and inquiries may be sent by post, fax, or email to:

Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum
4223 Nanin Yamadera, Yamagata-shi, Yamagata-ken, 999-3301 JAPAN

Ph (0)23-695-2221 Fax: (0)23-695-2552

email address: [email protected]

8. Prizes:
In each division, one grand prize and two distinguished work prizes will be awarded. Recipients will receive a certificate printed in both English and Japanese as well as an additional prize.

9. Announcement of judging results:
Prize winners will be notified by post or email and will be invited to attend the awards ceremony, which will be held on July 20, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. Prize-winning haiku poems and the haiku submission collection will be displayed on the Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum website.

*Haiku submissions and applicant names may be printed in the Haiku Submission Collection, displayed on the museum website, and otherwise made public. To ensure easy understandability, any unintentional spelling mistakes found in haiku submissions will be corrected by museum staff.