The Australian Haiku Society is proud to announce the 2nd running of the John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku. The award is a biannual international haiku competition open to poets from all over the world.
Background: The award has special meaning this year in the wake of the sad passing of John Bird earlier this year. John was a highly respected haiku poet who instigated and developed the Australian Haiku Society, bringing together haiku poets from around the country with the mission to encourage and promote the enjoyment of haiku. John was a passionate advocate for haiku that is written from an authentic sense of place, which he encouraged through his “Dreaming Collection”. He was a gentle mentor to countless Australian haiku poets, and his influence on the growth of haiku in Australia is inestimable.
Entry Procedure: Write your submission of up to three haiku in the ‘Message’ section of the contact form. In your submission, please include the title: ‘Submission for the John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku’, followed by your haiku and your name and country of residence.
Submissions: All submissions must be in English, unpublished and not concurrently entered for any other competition, and remain unpublished until the results are declared. Submissions that have appeared in any print or online publication, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) will NOT be considered.
Contest organisers and AHS committee members are not eligible to enter. AHS Regional Representatives are eligible.
Deadline: 1st March 2023
Entry Fee: None
Prizes: The first three place getters will receive an original ink painting featuring their winning haiku by renowned Australian artist and poet, Ron C. Moss. The prize-winning haiku plus those awarded Honourable Mentions will be announced on the Australian Haiku Society website on 1st May 2023.
Judges: Sandra Simpson is editor of Haiku NewZ, South Pacific nominating editor for the annual Red Moon anthologies and secretary of the Katikati Haiku Pathway. An award-winning haiku poet Sandra lives in Tauranga, New Zealand, where she plays badminton, has a hobby collection of orchids, and is a freelance writer and editor.
Louise Hopewell is a Melbourne-based haiku poet. Her haiku has been widely published both in Australia and internationally and she won the inaugural John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku in 2020. When not writing, Louise can be found riding her bicycle or playing ukulele (but not at the same time).
The judges’ decisions are final, and no correspondence can be entered into regarding those decisions.
Australian Haiku Society 