The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District’s 6th annual Golden Haiku competition is ending February 4, but submissions are still being accepted.
Aspiring poets from around the globe are invited to write and submit up to three contemporary haiku to be judged by an expert panel. Winning poems, along with dozens of honorable mentions, will be featured in tree boxes along some of the city’s most iconic and busy streets throughout March, and winning authors will be recognized with prizes valued up to $500.
This year’s theme is “Spring in the City,” although haiku on other topics will be accepted.
“Our Golden Haiku competition is highly regarded and internationally recognized with [1,600] entries last year coming from 45 countries, 34 states and the District,” said Golden Triangle BID Executive Director Leona Agouridis. “In addition to engaging poetry lovers from around the world, we are able to bring the winning poems to the streets of our neighborhood adding some whimsy and color for passersby to enjoy during the late winter months.”
Judging for Golden Haiku follows the Haiku Society of America’s guidelines, which state that a modern haiku uses imagistic language to convey an experience, usually regarding nature or seasons. It must be noted that the 5-7-5, three-line structure most are accustomed to is not required for Golden Haiku entries.
This year’s entries will be judged by Abigail Friedman, the author of The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan (Stone Bridge Press), I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda (Stone Bridge Press) and Street Chatter Fading (Larkspur Press). She is on the Board of Trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., and CEO of The Wisteria Group; Kit Pancoast Nagamura, a columnist for The Japan Times for over a decade who also appears as a regular on NHK WORLD‘s “HAIKU MASTERS” and “Journeys in Japan” programs. She is a recent prize winner in Japan’s prestigious Ito-en Oi Cha HaikuContest, a member of the Haiku International Association and will be judging from Japan; and
John Stevenson, managing editor of The Heron’s Nest, and a former President of the Haiku Society of America, who has served as editor of Frogpond and is the author of books such as Quiet Enough, Some of the Silence, Live Again, (d)ark and Emoji Moon.
To submit a haiku, visit www.goldentriangledc.com/haiku.
