Haiku Society of America

---

2026 HSA 1-Day Virtual Conference

Theme: Cutting Through Our Times
November 28, 2026

As we consider 250 years of history and "belonging" in America, let's explore themes of rebellion in contemporary haiku. What are we doing to push the envelope of haiku and related poetry in ways that lead to new freedoms, growth, and shared harmony? Though encouraged, proposals do not strictly have to align with theme. 

Please propose workshops, panels, or presentations for the 2026 HSA 1-day Virtual Conference, November 28, 2026. Submit your proposals no later than Oct. 10th to HSA President: crystalsimone915@gmail.com.

---

2026 HSA Haiku Awards

To see the honorary mentions and the judges' commentary:

HSA Haiku Awards 2026

~ First Place ~

last light
the snowy egret
briefly gold

Tom Bierovic, DeLand, FL

 

~ Second Place ~

morning star—
hoarfrost
on the scarecrow’s sleeve

Billie Dee, Tacoma, WA

 

~ Third Place ~

pine-splintered sun
a fence lizard
finds a sliver

John Wojtowicz, Bridgeton, NJ

 

---

2026 HSA Senryu Awards

To see the honorary mentions and the judges' commentary::

HSA Senryu Award 2026

 
~ First Place ~

 
can’t stop thinking about her kudzu

John Ward Hocter, Hilliard, OH

 

~ Second Place ~

the day
it becomes pronounceable
metastasis

Mary Stevens, Hurley, NY

 

~ Third Place ~

death anniversary
the weight of hay
still in the field

Lorraine A Padden, San Diego, CA

 

---

2026 HSA Haibun Awards

To see the honorary mentions and the judges' commentary::

HSA Haibun Awards 2026

~ First Place ~

by Edward Cody Huddleston, Baxley, GA

Classical Conditioning

Did Pavlov think about his dogs every time he heard a bell?

ice cream truck jingle
my inner child
asks for five bucks

~ ~ ~

~ Second Place ~

by Judson Evans, Holbrook, MA

'Simpson's Dining Car'—
24 hour service—with free parking
1413 Main St., Houston, TX, Nov. 6, 1997

Dear Wound Dressers,

Hope you like the daguerreotype tonality of this relic 50’s postcard. No such nostalgia for my lost decade. High risk/ low reward for the cast away. Hayloft, sawdust and syphilis at the Golden Spur. “Blackout Night” at The Mining Co.. Anonymous—my Latin name. Blindfolds, glory holes. Then, the first acronyms: GRID, gay plague, mystery cancer. Not a doctor or teacher like you, I could only count: Houston by 1987—already 300 dead. A.I.D.S rewriting the mock epic of my coming out before the muted fanfare of slogans: “Play Safe” , “Y’all Means All”, “Silence=Death”. Panic-driven comradeship of all believers. I was a gofer driving a pickup for ‘Foundation House’ –gathering dead young men’s furniture and furnishing other dying young men’s condos. And then fled east to Manhattan, the deeper plague grounds.

not to sit close
and dress the wounds —
carting cardboard boxes
 
False Friend Bob

~ ~ ~

~ Third Place ~

by Matthew Caretti, Mercersburg, PA

In a Walmart Parking Lot Just South of the Mason-Dixon

strangers don’t talk to stranger’s dogs in cars

God is a loaded word here. Like that other three-letter word. Gun. The young man fingering the rifle beside his beaming father.

eager or idle hands the devil in the details

Outside they add it to the rack in the pickup parked beside my own. Theirs lifted and with oversized tires. Mine in its shadow.

pointy end of things people say in passing

~ ~ ~

 

---

2026 Merit Books Awards
for books published in 2025

Michael Henry Lee and Michele Root-Bernstein, judges

See the judges' commentary
 

HAIKU BOOK AWARDS:

First Place

Lee Gurga. The Whisper I Wished For. Champaign, Il: Modern Haiku Press, 2025.

Second Place

Gary Hotham. Our Backs to the Wind. Taylorville, Il: Brooks Books, 2025.

Third Place Tie

Chuck Brickley. Downhill Home. Ormskirk, Great Britain: Snapshot Press, 2025

Third Place Tie

Kat Lehmann. No Matter How It Ends a Bluebird’s Song. Studio City, CA: Rattle Foundation, 2025.

Honorable Mentions (not ranked but in alphabetical order by author)

Vandana Parashar. A Call’s Loon. Taylorville, IL: Brooks Books, 2025

Julie Schwerin. Fencing With the Moon. Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press, 2025

Hilary Tann. Timbre. Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2025

Rick Tarquinio. A Handful of Huckleberries. NP: odd duck press, 2025

~ ~ ~

HAIBUN BOOK AWARDS:

First Place

Margaret Chula. Clothes to Go Out In. Portland, OR: The Poetry Box, 2025

Second Place

Roberta Beary. Crazy Bitches. Winston-Salem, NC: MacQ Books, 2025

Third Place

Reid Hepworth. The Improbability of Sea Monkeys. Chennai, India: Kavya-Adisakrit, 2025

Honorable Mention

Glenn G. Coats. A Lantern on the Bridge. Carolina Shores, NC: Pineola Publishing, 2025

~ ~ ~

COLLABORATIVE VERSE AWARDS:

Best

John Thompson and Renée Owen. Moonblind. Sebastopol, CA: Pig Blossom Press, 2025

Honorable Mention

Nicholas Klacsanzky, Hifsa Ashraf and Jacob D. Salzer. Beyond Emptiness. NP: A Lulu Publication, 2025

~ ~ ~

HAIKU ANTHOLOGY AWARDS:

Best, Tie

Johnnie Johnson Hafernik, ed in chief. Best of Geppo, The Haiku Work-Study Journal of Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. San Jose, CA: Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, 2025

Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, eds. Haiku 21.2, An Anthology of Contemporary English-language Haiku. Champaign, IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2025.

Honorable Mention

Terry Ann Carter & Lynne Jambor, eds. Uncharted Territory, 2024 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology. Bellevue, WA: Haiku Northwest Press, 2025

~ ~ ~

---

Haiku Society of America Rengay Awards 2026

Judged by Bryan Rickert & C.X. Turner

Judges Commentary

---

2026 First Place

Reflection

alpine lake
a single acorn
blurs its tree

blue sun
my mother's eyes

contrail
we move through
the what ifs

beak of breath
I don’t know how
to begin

the quiet rustle
of hours and worms

cymbal splash
resurfacing
wet wings

Kat Lehmann: 1,3,5
Stacy Nigliazzo: 2,4,6

 

---

2026 Second Place

Leather Pouch

spare button
on the inside lining
winter moon

a quarter glints
in the raven's beak

bone handle knife
fresh snow piles up
against the door

a screw loose
on the cabinet hinge
wind-driven sleet

leather tobacco pouch
clouds heavy with rain

mountain wind lifts
the thatched roof . . .
another pin on the map

Ron C. Moss 1,3,5
Paula Sears 2,4,6

 

---

2026 Third Place

Dark Amber

garden walk
aster to aster
silence to silence

under mountain mint
the dreaming bee

mead moon
in transit
bitter brew

no word
for meadow
waggle dance

a swarm of stars
dusting the orchard

sun through
the honey jar
morning Assam

Barbara Sabol 1, 3, 5
Dylan Stover 2, 4, 6

 

---

The Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Student Haiku and Senryu Competition for Grades 7-12

Founded by the Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ, and co-sponsored by the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association in memory of Nicholas A. Virgilio, a charter member of the Haiku Society of America, who died in 1989. The Haiku Society of America is also a co-sponor of the contest, providing judges, and publishing the results in Frogpond and on the HSA Web site.

Student Haiku Awards for 2026

The judges comments will be posted at a later date.
Congratulations to these six student winners for 2026!

Anna Eklund-Cheong and Scott Wiggerman, Judges
See the 2026 judges' comments.

mixtape
the sound
of dad’s memories

Justin So
Paideia School, 8th grade

•

moving day
leaving my heart
on the old oak

Seby Ciobica
Elena Rares School, 7th grade

•

power outage
stars crowd closer
than neighbors

Sialavene Lutali
Pacific Horizons School, 12th grade

•

night market rain
Singapore steam rising
from paper bowls

Luna Rodriguez
Sage Hill School, 12th grade

•

spring fever
my sister dresses her doll
in light green

David Maica
Elena Rares School, 8th grade

•

snowy field
a crow scribbling
the sunset

Luca Bobeica
Elena Rares School, 8th grade

•

See the 2025 award winning haiku!

Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial
Student Haiku and Senryu Competition Collection

~ ~ ~

---

 

Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition Anthology

edited by Randy M. Brooks
designed by Ignatius Fay

© 2022 HAIKU Society of America

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition, the executive committee of the Haiku Society of America published this anthology of award-winning haiku and senryu. The student observations, insights, experiences, emotions and insights evident in these haiku and senryu are a wonderful testament to the fresh voices and vivid imagery of young people. We believe the judges’ commentaries add a valuable layer of meaning as we see how leaders, editors, writers and members of the Haiku Society of America carefully consider the significance of each award-winning poem.

College or high school teachers, you may download a free PDF copy of STUDENT HAIKU & SENRYU ANTHOLOGY. You may also request a free PDF copy of THE ART OF READING & WRITING HAIKU by Dr. Randy Brooks at Brooks Books.

~ ~ ~

---

.