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.