Modern
Haiku is pleased to announce the Robert Spiess Memorial
Award Haiku Competition for 2005. The 2004 competition brought
191 entries from 104 poets.
Theme:
Haiku are to be written in the spirit of the following "Speculation"
(Robert Spiess, A Years Speculations on Haiku,
Modern Haiku Press, 1995):
It
is [the] subjective aspect that accounts for very much of
the difference between a haiku that is merely descriptive
per se and one that engenders intuitional feelingand
this is the deciding factor between a haiku in which the poet
simply records stimuli and one in which the poet is in accord
with the haiku moment.
Deadline:
In hand no later than March 13, 2005.
Regulations:
The competition is open to everyone but the staff of Modern
Haiku, the competition coordinator, and the judges. Entries
must be in English. Each entry must be the original, unpublished
work of the author, and should not be under consideration in
a contest or for publication elsewhere. For purposes of this
competition, appearance of a haiku on an Internet journal or
Web site is considered publication, but sharing of a haiku on
an e-mail haiku list is not. Note, however: the judges will
be instructed to disregard any entries that they have seen before.
Of course, entries should not be shared on Web sites or haiku
lists during the term of the competition.
Submission
guidelines:
Poets may submit a maximum of five haiku written in the spirit
of the above Speculation. Submit three copies of each haiku,
on 3½ x 5½ cards or slips of paper. Entries should be typed
or printed legibly. The haiku should appear on the face of each
card (one haiku per card). The poets name, mailing address,
telephone number, and e-mail address (if any) should appear
on one of the three cards only, in the upper left-hand corner
above the haiku; the other two copies should contain only the
haiku. Please keep a copy of your submission; entries will not
be returned. E-mail submissions are not allowed. Please follow
the instructions carefully: entries that are incomplete or that
do not comply with the instructions will be discarded.
Entry
fee:
$1 per haiku, cash or check (U.S. funds); make checks payable
to Modern Haiku.
Send
submissions to:
Billie Wilson, 1170 Fritz Cove Road, Juneau, AK 99801-8501 USA.
Adjudication:
Two judges will be selected by Modern Haiku; their names
will be announced at the time of the awards. Judging will be
double-blind, and the judges will not know the identity of the
entrants. Judges decisions are final.
Selection
criteria:
The judges will look for entries that hew to Western norms for
haiku as published in Modern Haiku and other leading
English-language haiku journals (no rules as to syllable or
line count, etc.) and that best capture the spirit of the theme
Speculation above.
Awards:
First Prize:
$100 plus a signed, like-new copy of Bobs first book,
The Heron's Legs (1966, out of print); Second Prize: $50 plus
a copy of Bob's The Shape of Water (1982); Third Prize: $25
plus a copy of Bobs Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001). Up
to five poets will be awarded Honorable Mentions and each will
receive a copy of Bobs A Year's Speculations on Haiku
(1995).
Notification:
Winners will be notified by e-mail or phone before the general
announcement. Winning entries will be published in the summer
2005 issue of Modern Haiku and will be posted on the
Modern Haiku Web site, <https://www.modernhaiku.org/>,
on July 1, 2005.
If
you would like a list of the winners, please enclose a stamped,
addressed business-sized envelope (SASE) with your entries.
Overseas entrants should provide an addressed envelope and one
IRC. These will be mailed when the summer issue of Modern
Haiku is released.