Dear Members,
I am delighted to be able to announce the winners of the inaugural John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku. The response to the competition, conceived to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Australian Haiku Society, has been overwhelming to say the least. A total of 890 poems were received from an incredible 41 countries – an outstanding result for a new competition. Thank you to all poets for contributing their poems.
Our judges have chosen their top three haiku and honourable mentions whose poems appear below. I would like to thank the judges, Vanessa Proctor and Michael Dylan Welch, for their diligence and enthusiasm for this award. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Ron Moss for providing the winners with beautiful ink drawings featuring their poems.
Rob Scott,
President, AHS
Australian Haiku Society 