Welcome to the British Haiku Society

	The James W Hackett/BHS Annual International Award for Haiku
	The Biennial British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology (formerly The Nobuyuki Yuasa International Award)

The James W Hackett/BHS Annual International Award for Haiku

Winners of 2008 Awards

The two equal winning haiku for 2009, chosen respectively by James Hackett and David Cobb, are shown immediately below, together with the judges' general and winner-specific comments:

James W Hackett writes:

"I profoundly welcome the haiku poems selected below, and honor these poets for their dedication to creating verses worthy of the subtle art of haiku poetry.

"My choice for first place is"

asparagus bed –
I compost ashes
from a decade of poems

Linda Jeanette Ward (USA)

James Hackett

David Cobb comments:

“Now I am about to retire from the panel for this Award, something in the nature of a 'state of the award' speech may not be entirely inappropriate.

"We have probably all noticed, when awards go on from year to year, that they develop a kind of track record. Possibly some entrants form an opinion of what is likely to please the judges. Anyway, one does end up with a solid leaven of entries that are 'par for the course', safe putts on a well understood green.

"I can't suppress the feeling that this Award is becoming rather like that. On the positive side, I'm glad to note an increased number of entries that are at least 'competent', if competency means meeting the standards that have been considered acceptable, even worthy of acclaim, in the past. On the more negative side, there were relatively few that had the qualities of being essential, of being irrepressible, some hint of movement in the soul of the writer.

"Do bear in mind, please, that a new judge with different criteria will be taking over from me for the 2009 award. Safety may not be your friend!

"This unpromising introduction aside, I was able to make a very short-short-list of 8 haiku that simply would not be overlooked, however many times my apparently jaundiced eye encountered them. I wish I were allowed to name all 8, but have to reduce those 8 to an outright winner and 4 ' Highly Commendeds'."

"my overall winner has to be

estuary fog –
a bell boomerangs
from shore to shore

Malcolm Williams (UK)

"The winner's choice of the word 'boomerang' is excellent and shows a fine poetic perception. Optimism and pessimism seem to blend and interpenetrate."

David Cobb

The overall winners each receive £70 and a year's subscription to the British Haiku Society's journal Blithe Spirit.

The adjudicators found the following haiku highly commendable (in no particular order):

James Hackett's choices:

   no longer knowing
   every bend in the road . . .
   last quarter moon

   John Barlow (UK)

   beating the rain…
   Dad lingers
   to smell the pinks

   Helen Buckingham (UK)

   a tide line
   the gull shifts between
   its reflection and shadow

   Natalia L Rudychev a.k.a. Liao (USA)

David Cobb's choices:

   Melting snowflakes –
   the night watchman
   remains alone

   Eduard Tara (Romania)

   Still waiting
   for the hungry whales –
   myriads of stars

   Eduard Tara (Romania)

   folding clothes
   I am here then not here –
   winter’s first rain

   Marjorie Buettner (USA)

   now he’s here
   the coarse hair of the horse . . .
   summered grasses

   John Barlow (UK)

"Melting snowflakes: a good exemplar of haiku's traditional homage to loneliness.

"Still waiting: spare yourself one of the ambiguous meanings, and this jolts you out of cosiness.

"folding clothes: an affecting, homely tale of the multi-tasker at the mercy of the elements.

"now he's here: deliciously open-ended and potentially erotic, this sounds to me like the authentic reply of the 'voice less loud through its joys and fears', as Robert Browning presents it in his romantic poem Meeting at Night".

Administrator’s Notes:

"This year has seen a record number of 510 haiku submitted. The poets themselves came from countries in the following proportions: England 46% USA 21% - (this ratio was about. 60 : 15 for the last two years). Next came Australia 6%, Ireland and Wales 5%, and Scotland and New Zealand 4%. We then have Canada, Japan and Singapore at 2%, and Malta, Croatia and Romania at 1%.

"Finally, I would like to thank our two adjudicators James W Hackett and David Cobb for the time and skill they have applied to the selection of winning poems. Thanks also to Annie Bachini and Jon Iddon for their selection of the 73 poems for the short list. the 73 poems for the short list. David Steele"

David Steele

This contest was instituted in 1990, using an initial donation from James W Hackett, a well-known pioneer in the field of haiku writing. It has been held annually ever since, with James W Hackett himself choosing the winners (until 2006, when he shared the task with David Cobb for the next three years).
Entrants for this award should be aware of the characteristics which the judges hold to be necessary in good haiku and which are exemplified by the 2008 winning and commended entries above. These may serve as a guide for those intending to enter the 2009 Award, details of which follow immediately.

Entry procedure for the 2009 James W Hackett/BHS International Haiku Award

Haiku must be original, in English, not previously published nor under consideration for publication or entered in any other competition.

Deadline: in hand by 30 November 2009.

Award: Two winning haiku will be chosen, each by a separate adjudicator (see below).
The winning authors will each receive a prize of £70 and …
One year’s free subscription to The British Haiku Society.
Winning and commended haiku will be published in Volume 20 no. 2 (June 2009) of Blithe Spirit
and here on the BHS website some time prior to June.

Winning and commended haiku will be published on the BHS website, in Blithe Spirit and in the call for entries for next year’s Award, and may be archived (eg. by British Poetry Library). Otherwise, copyright is retained by the authors.

Each haiku must be printed or typed onto three separate 5 x 3 in (125 x 75 mm) sheets or cards.
Entrant's name and address to be on the back of only one sheet/card in each set of three.

Submissions to be sent by post to Hackett Award, Newton House, Holt Rd, North Elmham, Norfolk NR20 5JQ, UK.

An entry must be accompanied by the flat rate entry fee of £3.00 or US$6.00 for up to three haiku, and £1.00 or US$2.00 per haiku thereafter.
Cheques and Orders should be made payable to 'British Haiku Society'
Due to high currency and clearance charges, payment can only be accepted in Sterling by cheque drawn on a UK bank branch, by British Postal Order, in Sterling / US cash, or by Sterling International Money Order.
All BHS Committee Members are debarred from entry.
For notification of results, please enclose a self-addressed envelope with appropriate UK stamp, or two IRCs, (which must be stamped by the issuing office) or US$1.00 (so, US$7 in bills covers both entry fee and notification).

Adjudication: A shortlist will be prepared by a BHS sub-Committee from anonymous copies of the submissions.
James W Hackett and Dee Evetts will then each choose a winning poem and up to four commended poems.

James W Hackett needs no introduction to serious readers of haiku, but see his website: https://www.hacketthaiku.com which contains all of his haiku, zen poems, and other spiritually-focused writings. Included also are correspondence with Blyth and Henderson, paintings, calligraphy and photos.
Dee Evetts was ‘hooked on haiku’ as early as 1963 when he read ‘The Way of Zen’ by Alan Watts and was impressed by Henderson’s translations from the Japanese. He was a co founder of the BHS in 1990, but left the UK to live in New York. In 1994 he curated the "Haiku on 42nd Street" project which featured haiku by twenty-six poets on the marquees (billboards) of vacant movie theatres. He has been vice president of the Haiku Society of America and was the secretary of the HSA for three years.

BHS and James W Hackett regret they cannot enter into correspondence about the Hackett Award decisions and that entries cannot be returned.

The Biennial British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology 2009

The closing date for entries to this prestigious international anthology was originally set at 1 February 2009. However, The British Haiku Society has now extended the closing date to 1 October 2009 because the editors felt that there were insufficient entries of a strong enough quality. So, therefore, the original entry procedure, with amended closing date, is reposted below. You now have a further opportunity to send in your best haibun that illustrate an awareness of the relationship between the prose and haiku. The editors recommend that you think about the points below when finalising your entry or entries.

Can the haiku stand alone and relate to the prose yet without repeating the same idea?
Is there an identifiable theme that still leaves room for the reader to participate and find meaning?
Is the language precise and fresh?

Entries are invited for this prestigious international anthology, the purpose of which is to help raise the quality and range of the haibun genre, which combines poetic prose and haiku.

Entry fee: £6.00 or US$12.00 for the first haibun entry, £3.00 or US$6.00 for every additional haibun.
Cheques and British Postal/International Money Orders should be made payable to 'British Haiku Society'
Due to high currency and clearance charges, payment can only be accepted in Sterling by cheque drawn on a UK bank branch, by British Postal Order, in Sterling / US cash (paper money only), or by International Money Order.

Conditions of Entry: Open to all (except BHS Committee members and any others involved with the administration of the Anthology). Submissions must be written in English, and between 100 and 2000 words long, including haiku. Work must be unpublished and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Each haibun should be given a title. Entries will not be returned, so please retain a copy of each submission for yourself. Copyright reverts to the author after publication in the Anthology. In the unlikely event of an insufficient quantity and/or quality of submissions, those that are received will be carried forward for consideration for the 2011 Anthology.

Submission details: Three copies of each haibun, with each copy starting on a separate A4 or US Letter sheet. One copy must show your name, postal address, telephone number (and e-mail address, if any). The other copies must carry nothing which identifies the author. Entries on disk (floppy or CD, in Word format) will be happily accepted. If you require acknowledgement of receipt of your entry, please either request an e-mail acknowledgement or enclose a self-addressed envelope with appropriate UK stamp or an IRC (which must be stamped by the issuing office), or US$2.00 in bills.
For postal notification of results, enclose a second sae with UK stamp, IRC or US dollar bills.

Address for entries: Andrew Shimmield, BHS Haibun Anthology, 18 Deepwell Close, Isleworth, Middx. TW7 5EN, UK.

Closing date: in hand by 1 October 2009

Assessment and Appraisal of entries: The process of assessment and appraisal will be undertaken by Jo Pacsoo and Lynne Rees. They will select the haibun for publication in the Anthology, and will provide an appraisal of each haibun selected. It is anticipated that the Anthology, whose title will be drawn from the selected haibun, will be published by December 2009. The authors of all the selected haibun will receive a free copy of the Anthology.

Copyright reverts to the author on publication, but entry to the 2009 Anthology signifies agreement to your work being published digitally by the Society or copied for archival purposes (for example, by the British Library or the Poetry Society).

The Biennial Sasakawa Prize for Original Contributions in the Field of Haikai

This award was administered by the British Haiku Society with funds provided by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. The award came to an end with the 2003 Prize, which was won by David Cobb, for his study of English Seasonal Images. David writes: "It's intended as a working document, in which I put forward a number of familiar words/concepts that might work for us as the accepted kigo do for the Japanese. Some of these are illustrated by haiku from a number of different British writers, and some are left blank for others to illustrate with the best examples they can find at any time in the future." David visited Japan and gave talks on the progress of his project in October 2004.