The Haiku Foundation HaikuNow! Contests

The Haiku Foundation has done a lot for haiku and haiku poets since its inception.  Right now, it's sponsoring a three-category haiku contest with cash prizes and no entry fees.

The HaikuNow! Contests consist of three different haiku contests: one for traditional haiku, one for contemporary haiku, and one for innovative haiku.  Each person can enter one haiku in each category, and each of the three category winners will receive $100.  Honorable mentions will get $25 each.

The deadline for these contests is March 31st, and all submitted poems must be unpublished.  Guidelines for each of the different categories are linked to from the contest page.

Haiku app, a comic

The Haiku Foundation has developed a haiku app for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.  This app came out last year (I'm behind the times) but a new version will be released this year, including one of my haiku (and a boatload of other ones that will all be better).  You can download the haiku app for free from the App Store.

In magazine news, new issues of both Shamrock and Apex are available online, so whether you prefer haiku or horror you can read your fill.  Shamrock is free, while Apex costs $2.99, but you can also find some free content on the Apex website.

Finally, fans of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series will enjoy this comic.

Haiku Now!

The Haiku Foundation is hosting its first national haiku contest, called the Haiku Now! Contest. The contest is for haiku in three different categories: traditional, contemporary, and innovative. There is no fee for entry, but each poet can only enter 1 poem in each category, and all poems must be unpublished. First prize in each category will be awarded $100, and honorable mentions will get $25. Billy Collins will be judging the traditional category, and Jim Kacian is judging the other two. Deadline is March 31st.

If you want to get inspired to write some haiku for the contest, start by reading some good poems. The 2009 Red Moon Anthology, where the wind turns, can be ordered from the Red Moon Press website. I haven't ordered my copy yet, but Deborah P. Kolodji wrote a brief write-up of the anthology and it sounds good.

The Haiku Foundation

There is now an official Haiku Foundation, with an impressive website including Charles Trumbull's extensive Haiku Bibliography. Here's the press release from Jim Kacian:

Dear Friends:

The Haiku Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to archive the accomplishments of the first century of haiku in English and to create greater opportunities for its second, was chartered in the state of Virginia, USA, on 6 January 2009. It is a volunteer organization primarily designed to create and implement projects centered around haiku. Most haiku organizations have privileged the poet and her needs: education, publication, socialization. The Haiku Foundation instead seeks to foster the growth of haiku itself. This is where poets come when they want to give back.

We are pleased to announce the public unveiling of our website. We hope you will visit it often and with pleasure. Please tell us how it serves you, and how it might serve you in the future. And most of all, we welcome your participation. Please join us to help us realize our goals.

Jim Kacian
The Haiku Foundation

If you're looking for an interesting article to read, check out Mary Gamble's 2001 essay comparing and contrasting the haiku of Issa and Gary Hotham.