The 7th Kokako Haiku and Senryu Competition

Closing date: 31st October 2013

First Prize NZ$200

Second and Third Place prizes of NZ$50 each

Judge: Barbara Strang

Send entries to:

The Kokako Haiku Competition,

Patricia Prime, co-editor

42 Flanshaw Road

Te Atatu South

Auckland 0610

New Zealand

Please make cheques out to Kokako

Overseas entrants may send cash at their own risk

Conditions of entry

1. Haiku must be previously unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.
2. Entry fee is NZ$5 for every 3 haiku; for overseas entries, AU$4 or US$4 for every 3 haiku. Cheques acceptable or cash at your own risk.
3. Send two copies of each group of haiku, with your name, address and email on one copy only.
4. 1st, 2nd & 3rd haiku, 3 Highly Commended and 3 Commended entries will be published in Kokako 20 (April 2014).
5. Winners will be notified by email or mail.
6. Any theme is acceptable.

Any queries, email: pprime (at) ihug (dot) co (dot) nz

 

More Great Giveaways...

...From Kathy Nguyen this Northern Summer Holidays over at her blog Origami Lotus Poetry. There is a haibun contest, a haiga contest, and there's still time to be part of the big blog bash for artists of all kinds! Check out all the details at the links. And have fun :)

Competition Results

At the beginning of this month I was busy judging my first haiku competition - The Haiku My Photo Challenge devised and run by Christine L. Villa over at her blog Blosson Rain. It wasn't an easy task! But a great learning experience for me and a joy to get intimate with some really good haiku. You can read my judge's comments and see the winning haiku as a haiga here.

Chrissi ran this contest to thank the on-line haiku community for giving her so much support and encouragement. While you're visiting Blosson Rain please send out a prayer for Chrissi. Her husband is currently battling a brain tumour and they both need our love and support. Kia kaha, Chrissi!

The other competition that closed at the beginning of this month was Kathy Uyen Nguyen's NaPoWriMo Book Giveaway over on her blog Origami Lotus Poetry. It was judged by Kathy and Peter Newton, who's book she was giving away. My rengay writing buddy Cara Holman was the runner-up, and you can see the winning poems and judge's comments here.

I'm hoping to run a tanka competition here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku in my birthday month of July. I have a great prize for the winner! I just hope my health lets me do it. Watch this space! :)

HAIKU MY PHOTO CHALLENGE - I'm the Judge!

I was very excited to be asked by Christine L. Villa to judge her haiga contest to celebrate National Poetry Month. It will be a blind judging, so even though all entries are appearing on her blog Blossom Rain, I won't be peeking! Instead Chrissi will send me the photo and all the entries (excluding names) after the closing date and I'll be choosing a winner based on which haiku best works with her image. The winner will receive a pack of six postcards with Chrissi's own photos.

Here are the details from Chrissi:

1) On the first day of the contest, I'll be posting my photo. Submit ONLY ONE haiku for the photo and type it on the comments section. The haiku must be the work of the submitting author, unpublished online or in print.
2) Below your haiku, write your full name and email address. If you don't want to post your email address, email me at chrissi731@hotmail(dot)com. I need to be able to email you if you win.
3) Everyone is welcome to comment on any haiku, but please no critiquing. 

4) The judge is Kirsten Cliff. 

5) Contest runs from April 23 through midnight of April 30 (PST).
6) The winner will be announced at 7:00 pm, May 4, 2012 (PST) with the collaborative haiga. If the winner doesn't reply within three days after the day of announcement another poet will be receiving the prize.

7) All rights revert back to the authors after the winner has been announced.

Chrissi says, "This contest is also my way of thanking all the haiku poets whom I've met online. I feel so blessed to find all of you who've been supportive and helpful in my haiku journey. I look forward to seeing you all. Let's all celebrate together and have some fun! :-)"

Here's the link to the post with the photo and all the entries so far: HAIKU MY PHOTO CHALLENGE
Enjoy yourselves! And I'll see you with the announcement of the winner next week :)

Two Great NaPoWriMo Giveaways!

The wonderfully supportive and energetic Kathy Nguyen is running two competitions to celebrate National Poetry Month.

The first is a haiku/senryu/tanka contest on her blog - Origami Lotus Poetry
Take a look at all the details here, and you'll be able to see my entry already in the comments section.
She is giving away a copy of Peter Newton's What We Find to the winner, and you can read her review of the book here.

The second is for WOWH members and the giveaway is one of Fiona's or Kaspa's e-courses!
You can find the prompt and all the info here, and if you're not already part of the Writing Our Way Home community then why not consider joining. You can find out more about WOWH here.

There's still lots of fun to be had this April!

The 4th KOKAKO Tanka Competition

The 4th Kokako Tanka Competition

Closing Date: 31st October 2012

First Prize: NZ$200

Second and Third Place prizes of NZ$50 each

Judge: Tony Beyer

Send entries to:

The Kokako Tanka Competition,

Patricia Prime

42 Flanshaw Road

Te Atatu South

Auckland 0610

New Zealand

Please make cheques out to Kokako

Overseas entrants may send cash at their own risk

               Conditions of entry

1. Tanka must be previously unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.
2. Entry fee is NZ$2 per tanka or 3 for NZ$5; for overseas entries: US$1 per tanka, or 4 for US$3. Any number of entries may be sent.
3. Send two copies of each tanka, or group of tanka, with your name, address and email on one copy only.
4. 1st, 2nd & 3rd tanka, 3 Highly Commended and 3 Commended entries will be published in Kokako 18 (April 2013).
5. Winners will be notified by email or mail.
6. Any theme is acceptable.

Any queries, email: Patricia Prime

An Update on the 2011 NZPS Anthology

I just found this information on The New Zealand Poetry Society website, regarding poems submitted to The 2011 Annual International Poetry Competition:

"We regret that due to circumstances beyond our control notification of poems selected for our anthology were not made before the end of August. We apologise for the delay, and request that entrants wait a little longer before submitting their poems elsewhere. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

So, you could still have a haiku chosen for the 2011 NZPS anthology edited by Linzy Forbes. Watch this space :)

Paper Cranes & Kokako 15

The September issue of Kokako arrived in my mailbox yesterday morning sporting my paper cranes image on the cover. My scan here of the print copy hasn't come out very clear so please do pop on over to my Photography page and check out the original image.

folded
next to the washing
my tired girlfriend


Cameron Elliot (my fiancé)







Don't forget about the The 6th Kokako Haiku and Senryu Competition which closes on October 31st. Entry details here.

The First Polish Haiku Contest in English

Entrants: competition open to anyone
Submission Period: 1 August 2011 — 16 October 2011
Number of Haiku: 1 (one)
Language: English
Theme: free
Style: contemporary: three lines within the 5-7-5 syllable pattern;
         no strict syllable count
Fee: none
Entry form: here

Jury: Jane Reichhold - Final Judge;
        Rafał Zabratyński - Pre-Selector

Results: 11 November 2011
            (Jury’s decision is definitive and irrevocable)

Prizes: diplomas and souvenirs for:
          1st Place (one haiku)
          2nd Place (one haiku)
          3rd Place (one haiku)
          Commendations (ten haiku)

Coordinator: Grzegorz Sionkowski
Originator: Krzysztof Kokot

Foundation for Water & Energy Education Haiku Contest

Cost: FREE to enter
Deadline: June 20, 2011
Theme: hydropower in 5-7-5 format; one haiku only.
Prizes: First Place - $US1000; 1 winner from each age section will be chosen and the cash prize decided on a draw. The 2 other winners to receive "Best of the Northwest" gift baskets. Winners announced on July 15. Full details here.

Inside the Mind of a Haiku Competition Judge

Joanna Preston is the 2011 judge of the adult section of the New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Competition. Over at her blog, A Dark Feathered Art, she is posting about her experience and it all makes for very interesting reading.

So far she has posted -

• ‘An island entire’ – judging the NZPS 2011 Haiku comp (check out the comments section on this one where she gives a great explanation to a reader's question - what is haiku?)
• Whittling soberly – the preliminary deliberations
• Dawn, reprieve, and mercy – the preliminary deliberations continue

I look forward to reading more as the weeks progress; all judging must be done by June 30th. And no, it hasn't put me off wanting to take on the task myself someday! :)

Joanna is co-editor of Kokako - New Zealand's only specialist haiku and related forms journal. She has edited the NZPS annual anthology three times; this is her first time judging for the NZPS. You can check out her books here.

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational - Deadline Extended!

New deadline: June 7, 2011

Judge: US poet an'ya

FREE entry of up to two haiku via an online form.

Theme: haiku should inspire a feeling of community & 
interpretively reflect the timeless nature of the cherry blossoms.

Winners announced in the northern autumn

& winning poems featured during the 2012 festival.

I've just entered for the first time! You can find all the details here

New For Me: Sketchbook Haiku Thread

I recently submitted to the Sketchbook May / June 30, 2011 "vegetable(s)" Haiku Thread. It's the first time I've joined in with one of these and also the first time I've taken a good look at Sketchbook: A Journal for Eastern & Western Short Forms.

Pop over and take a look yourself. It's fun checking in every few days to see what new haiku have been added to the thread, and I look forward to seeing what the editor's choices will be in the next issue of Sketchbook. Let me know how you get on!

The 12th Tanka Society of America’s International Competition

Deadline: Postmark date of June 30, 2011.

Eligibility: Open to all, members and non-members alike, except TSA officers and judges.

Regulations: Any number of tanka may be submitted. Entries must be original, in English, unpublished, and not submitted for publication or to any other contest.

Entry Fee: $1.00 per tanka, U.S. funds only. Please make checks/money orders payable to the "Tanka Society of America."

Submissions: Submit each tanka on three separate 3 x 5 inch cards, two with the tanka only (for anonymous judging), the third with the tanka and the author's name and address in the upper left-hand corner. Type or print neatly please.

Submit entries and fees to: Celia Stuart-Powles, PO Box 521084, Tulsa, OK 74152, USA

Awards: First prize: $100; Second Prize: $50; Third Prize: $25. Amount of prizes may be reduced if an insufficient number of entries are received. Winning poems will be published in Ribbons, the Tanka Society of America journal.

Adjudication: The name(s) of the judge(s) will be announced after the contest.

Rights: All rights revert to the authors after publication.

Correspondence: Unfortunately, entries cannot be returned. Please send a business size SASE for answers to queries or for a list of winning entries. For foreign entries, send a self-addressed envelope and one international reply coupon.

Snapshot Press Announces International Annual Awards for Unpublished Collections of Haiku, Tanka, Short Poetry, Haibun

The Snapshot Press Book Awards

The Snapshot Press Book Awards are international annual prizes for unpublished book-length collections of haiku, tanka, short poetry and haibun.

The Award winners will have their collections published in paperback or hardback by Snapshot Press. There may be up to four Award winners each year.

Submissions are open from July 1–November 30. Full details here.

The Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards

The Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards are international annual prizes for unpublished short collections of haiku, tanka, short poetry and haibun.

The Award winners will have their collections published online by Snapshot Press. There may be up to eight Award winners each year. Each entrant will receive a copy of a print anthology featuring a selection of the best individual poems and haibun entered into the contest.

The deadline for submissions is July 31. Full details here.

April Round-Up - My First NaPoWriMo Complete!

NaPoWriMo kept me super busy over April as I followed the daily prompts at InkSeeds on personal mythology, writing a poem-a-day (PAD). I got four days behind on these prompts mid-way through due to illness, but still managed to write a poem each of the days I had off, penning a haiku from my sick-bed.

All the poems are up here at Swimming in Lines of Haiku: haiku, senryu, tanka, small stones, free verse and rhymed verse. I'm happy with all my poems (though some could do with a little fine tuning) and cherish the insights I've gained through this process.

The personal mythology prompts explored dreams, the elements, archetypes, memories - all that makes up your personal story. They're so much more than mere prompts - they're a conversation with your soul. And will be remaining up on InkSeeds: you can check out the first one here - Recycling the First Dream.

You can also read the poems other people wrote in response to the prompts on Fiona and Kaspa's Writing Our Way Home on-line community under April 2011 InkSeeds Poetry Project. Poems are still being posted and discussed here - come join us!

Here's how I'm doing on my 2011 goal of submitting poetry to a publication or competition every week:

• week fourteen - submitted 15 haiku to the Anthology of English-Language Haiku by Women
• week fifteen - submitted tanka prose to Haibun Today (first time submitting here)
• week sixteen - entered three haiku in the Klostar Ivanic International Haiku Contest, closes May 31
• week seventeen - submitted my poem "A Journey in Three Masks" to Excellent Writing (first time submitting here)

This month saw one of my photos printed in the local paper as the Weather Spotters pic for that week. I was surprised and excited about this as it's the first time I'd ever sent a photo into the paper, and when I still hadn't heard from them months later I figured it was no good. Great to be proved wrong! You can check out the photo on my Photography page.

I also spent some time playing around with text on photos. I put a few of my previously published free verse poems onto images and think they look amazing. It's a striking way to showcase both my writing and photography on the Internet. I made a few into haiga, doing some with tanka for the first time. I use an old version of PhotoStudio as my editing software, which is limiting. So I'm going to look into downloading the free OpenSource software (as I'm already using OpenOffice as my word processing software) and see if this is easier to work with.

I'm enjoying getting more involved with my prose again. One of my articles was a Friday "Speak Out!" guest post on the WOW! Women On Writing blog - "Writing Each Day Keeps The Doctor Away". And three of my quick tips for freelance writers will be appearing in issues of Excellent Writing - an e-newsletter for writers edited by Janie Sullivan. You'll see above that I also sent her a poem as a filler, which was accepted for the May issue. My post about that here.

This month I look forward to creating some more collage-style haiga and reading and sharing haiku on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page where many people continue to write a haiku-a-day.

Submissions Now Open For Kokako 15

Kokako is New Zealand's only dedicated magazine of haiku, tanka, haibun and related forms showcasing poetry from Aotearoa and around the world. It's edited by Patricia Prime and Joanna Preston, and is published twice annually, in April and September.

Submissions for the September issue close July 1st, 2011.
All work should be previously unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere. The editors ask you to please make just one submission of up to 10 pieces during each submission period to kokakonz[at]gmail[dot]com. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be made after the closing date of each submission period.

Kokako 15 will feature one of my photographic images on the cover so I'm really looking forward to this issue! If you'd like to subscribe, please use the above email address to contact Pat. Cost of annual subscription is NZ$22 for two issues within New Zealand; Overseas AU$20/US$20 for two issues, posted airmail.

And don't forget to about The Sixth Kokako Haiku and Senryu Competition closing October 31st, 2011. First Prize $NZ200!

NZ Poetry Society 2011 International Haiku Competition

Haiku (including senryu) entries must be received by 31 May

Prizes: The top five haiku/senryu will be awarded NZ$100 each. In addition, the 1st prize winner will be awarded the Jeanette Stace Memorial Prize of $150. There will be up to 20 commendations.

Judge: Joanna Preston - a Tasmanaut poet, editor, and freelance poetry teacher. Her first collection, The Summer King, won both the 2008 Kathleen Grattan Award and the 2010 Mary Gilmore Poetry Prize. She co-edits Kokako magazine, and was the 2001 Haiku Competition winner.

Entry fee: NZ$1.50 per haiku; for NZPS members every 5th haiku is free. PayPal on site.

Go here for all the entry information.

This was my submission for week 13 of 2011 (part of my goal this year to submit to a poetry competition or publication every week).

Klostar Ivanic International Haiku Contest - FREE entry!

The Klostar Ivanic International Haiku Contest is my submission for this week (that's week 16 of 2011). I entered for the first time in 2009, but took a break in 2010 due to illness, and am pleased to get back to it this year. Here's all the details:

Klostar Ivanic International Haiku Contest

Organised by the Tourist Community of Klostar Ivanic, Croatia,

and Three Rivers Haiku Association.

Entry is FREE

Cash prizes totalling $US100

Deadline: May 31, 2011

Limit of 3 haiku which must contain "nature and man as part of it".

Results on the internet by November 1.

Send entries by email with the subject line "For the contest",

with haiku in the body of the email to:

dvrozic (at) optinet (dot) hr

Or by post (include addressed envelope with 1 IRC for results) to:

Haiku Association Three Rivers,

Kolodvorska 44,

10310 Ivanic Grad,

Croatia.

In 2010 New Zealander's did very well, with Pat Prime receiving Third equal, Catherine Mair receiving an Honourable Mention, and Margaret Beverland and Owen Bullock both receiving Choice of Haiku placings. I'm very pleased with the haiku I submitted and hope I can live up to the New Zealand standard!

Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition Results

The 2011 Haiku Calendar Competition results are out now, see here. My congratulations to all the winners!

This year was my first time entering the competition, and I'm pleased to know that one of my haiku was shortlisted for the awards, although unfortunately was not selected for the calendar.

Snapshot Press are encouraging poets to get their entries in early for the next competition, which closes January 31st, 2012. You can find all the information here.