Contest Comments by David McMurray
Congratulations go to all the haikuists from 42 countries around the world who entered 3,571 works to the 7th Setouchi Matsuyama International Photo-Haiku Contest. From the 1,484 entries of photo-haiku in English, 60 winning haiku were selected for honorable mention. From this list, 8 works were awarded certificates and prizes of goods equivalent to 58,000 yen.
Grand Prix
Judge’s Comment on the Haiku
Our precious one-and-only world is filled with wonder. While his mother shops for matching socks and mittens, the child tries to disprove the scientific adage that no two snowflakes are ever the same shape. Ann Magyar lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Her grandparents were in their teens when they immigrated by ship to the United States from Hungary in the early 1900s.
Award for Excellence
Judge’s Comment on the Haiku
Roberta Beary lived and worked in Japan in the 1990s. At that time she revealed, "I experienced, for the first time, life as an outsider." Originally from Bethesda, Maryland, she is currently living in Ireland, representing The Haiku Foundation as its Roving Ambassador.
Award for Excellence
Judge’s Comment on the Haiku
The famed Dogo hot spring is no match for an aging mother’s dear memory of bathing her baby in a plastic tub. A councilor for the Haiku International Association, and a leading member of Ten’i (Providence) haiku group led by Dr. Akito Arima, Emiko Miyashita believes that authenticity is most important when she writes in English. Haiku has to be brief and it has to be from the real experience.
Shiki and Soseki 150th Anniversary Special Prize
Judge’s Comment on the Haiku
Similar to inquisitive tourists, even young horses enjoy taking in the sights. This haiku is a worthy winner of a prize named for two friends, Masaoka Shiki and Natsume Soseki. Living in the village of Avigliano in the mountainous south of Italy, Angela Giordano loves it when everyone else leaves on vacation and the streets of her city are half empty.
Shiki and Soseki 150th Anniversary Special Prize
Judge’s Comment on the Haiku
Ralf Broker was born in Ochtrup, Germany, in 1968. Member of the German Haiku Society, he began writing haiku in 2008. If the verb on the second line of the haiku were "turned" it could also inspire the image of the physical movement, the turning around to face someone new, at the crowded counter.
