2026 Contest Winners
First Place
patching
the winter-worn earth
first primroses
Ben Oliver
Stroud, England
Second Place
courtyard weeds—
a stray cat’s tail
rubs the Buddha’s nose
Edward Cody Huddleston
Baxley, Georgia (USA)
Third Place
our ancestors
singing their sorrow
—ghost pipes
Goran Gatalica
Zagreb, Croatia
Honourable Mentions
fiddleheads
I sit for a spell
unfurling
Mo Schoenfeld
United Kingdom
lone magpie feather
the length
of letting go
Vishal Prabhu
India
spotted owl . . .
gliding in and out
of identity
Nicholas Klacsanzky
Seattle, Washington, USA
The 2026 Solitary Daisy Haiku Contest is now closed – 278 entries! Sally and Michele will be working their way through these with a (maybe too ambitious) goal of announcing the winners in the April 25th issue.
Judging will be done by Sally Quon and Michele Rule this year. We collect email addresses for contact purposes but will be judging anonymously thanks to the talent of our webmaster. We never ever share your email with anyone else.
We will gladly accept haiku that have appeared on social media, your personal blog or in a recording. Please don’t send us haiku that have been curated in a journal, magazine, book or someone else’s blog. And we do not want any haiku written by AI – those are for some other journal.
We don’t need your haiku to have a season word from the authorized Japanese list and we certainly don’t adhere to the 5-7-5 model, although we do like our haiku under 17 syllables. We like to laugh and to cry and to be surprised!
The contest closes on April 4, 2026 at midnight PT – no exceptions. There is no fee to submit but we would love you to sign up for our newsletter!
Cash prizes* are as follows: first place $25, second place $15, third place $10. There will also be three honourable mentions chosen. All of the winners will be notified by email and paid through PayPal.
Results will be released within a month unless we are absolutely inundated with entries – which would be a nice problem to have! Then please be patient and give us six weeks. We will keep in touch through the newsletter.
2025 Contest Winners
First Place
cold laundry line –
the shape of your sweater
still holding the wind
Molly Thapviwat
Bangkok, Thailand
Second Place
his still small hand
already evading ours
migrating birds
Marie Derley
Ath, Belgium
Third Place
ramadan moon
behind skeletal houses
the edge of peace
Chen-ou Liu
Ontario, Canada
Honourable Mention
baby’s breath …
the gap between us
fills
Lisa C. Reynolds
Ontario, Canada
towing
a flock of seagulls –
fishing boat
Capotã Daniela Lãcrãmioara
Romania
tooth fairy –
under my son’s pillow
grandpa’s dentures
Annette Akkerman
Netherlands
2024 Contest Winners
First Place
dinner for one… the budding cherry now just another tree - Joshua Gage
Second Place
end of holiday – the remains of summer inside a beach pail - Dan C. Iulian
Third Place
chest deep in recollection wildflowers - Shelly Reed Thieman
Honourable Mention
the arabesque of cherry branches... frayed toe shoes - Debbie Strange a blue heron’s wings folding/unfolding... origami bird - Kim Klugh w*h*i*t*e*o*u*t my rescue dog rescues me - Roberta Beary