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WHO
Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not a U.S. resident, must have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts U.S. checks, in order to receive prize money.
IMPORTANT: By submitting haiku to this contest, the contestant declares that the poems are his or her own work, and that they were written in the last twelve months and therefore are not a repeat submission from a previous year. Poems written using artificial intelligence (AI) are not allowed. Please submit using your first and last name, as we may find it difficult to distinguish between contestants who have similar first names.
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PRIZE
$200
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JUDGES
J. Thomas Rimer, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature, Theatre, and Art at the University of Pittsburgh; former chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.
Margaret Coats, Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University; retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others.
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WHEN
Now until September 30, 2026, 6 p.m. EST (New York time). Results to be announced October 9, 2026. Please check back on October 9 or after to view the “Best Haiku of 2026” selected from this competition.
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HOW
Post your entries in the Comments below. (Click “Next” at the bottom-right of the comments to see all of the submitted poems.)
PLEASE NOTE: If you are having trouble submitting in the comments section below, you may email them instead to [email protected] with subject line “HAIKU.” Our apologies for the inconvenience.
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WHAT
Each competitor may post in the comments below up to three haiku of traditional form: three lines per poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 in the third. Entrants are recommended to conform to other traditional haiku requirements outlined HERE.
If you want coaching on haiku features, please read the examples and explanation before submitting your entries. Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment. This is permitted until the competition closes, but do take reasonable care to complete work to your satisfaction before you enter it. Please do not use the Comment area as your scratch pad. That is discourteous to other competitors, to interested readers, and to the judge and will disqualify you.
Entries that do not meet basic traditional haiku requirements may be deleted. Anyone who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.
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PAST WINNERS
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I slip between waves
Frigid stroke parking sunset
Mirror molten glass
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cut grass, verdant, sharp.
to be a bee tasting your
sun baked smooth dark skin
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Fireflies pulsing, my
heart beats with their rhythm spark.
I want to show you.
Dear judges, as you may have noticed – something went wrong with the format of my previously submitted poem. Therefore I’m resubmitting with the line bifurcation:
(Line 1)Shields can rot the bone:
(Line 2)spit the sweet gold from your mouth,
(Line 3)then walk through the gale.
Dear judges, as you may have noticed – something went wrong with the format of my previously submitted poem. Please remove my earlier post, I will re-submit my poem after I have fixed the formatting issue.
Shields can rot the bone:/
spit the sweet gold from your mouth,/
then walk through the gale.