Contest Comments by David McMurray
This contest attracted 4,113 entries, of which 1,587 were photo-haiku composed in English. From 401 your photo-haiku submissions about the sea, the preliminary judge short-listed extraordinarily beautiful photos and/or well-crafted haiku text. The final judge culled previously published photos and text copied from haiku books and awarded qualifiers a grand-prix, 2 awards for excellence, and 7 honorable mentions. Photo-haiku from Canada, Croatia, USA, Italy, Japan, India, and Australia rose to the top of the competition which attracted photo-haikuists living in 36 countries.
Grand Prix
CanadaDebbie Strange
rippling waves
you teach me how
to film the wind
Comment from the Judge: David McMurray
The haiku text speaks to the brilliantly colored photo. Together they resonate superbly as a narrative photo-haiku. A teacher could have been standing alongside when the photo-haikuist narrated action caught in the picture. The camera faced sunlight at a low angle. Deciduous tree branches in the foreground are bare and conifers on the island don’t move in the winter scene. Located possibly at a lake near to where the poet lives, rather than the sea, the water’s reflective surface seems to be close to freezing but for the rippling wind. It was an “aha, I understand now” photo-haiku moment that is deserving of the highest prize in the contest.
Award for Excellence
CroatiaDjurdja Vukelic Rozic
fish pond…
a poor boy’s
sea
Comment from the Judge: David McMurray
The photo-haikuist reminds us that not everyone can go to the sea. But we are all free to dream of the sea. Living near a forested hilly area rather than the clear Adriatic Sea, the author nonetheless skillfully combined a six-word story with a close-up shot of a railed wooden bridge by a waterhole. The synergy helped us to youthfully imagine what it could be like to sail on the bridge of a tall ship on the open seas.
Award for Excellence
USAPat Geyer
ocean waves…
the slow time
in between
Comment from the Judge: David McMurray
This is a pensive, carefully paced photo-haiku. The ellipsis at the end of the first line suggests a pause, the passing of the crest of a wave. It is noteworthy for its pithy text of 3 syllables on 3 lines matched to an intriguing photo of an amazing wave. The swell conjures all sorts of imaginative thoughts about what might be rising up from beneath it. Even though we want to rush to see the next roller, the author keeps us in a meditative trough.
Honorable Mentions
-
ItalyAntonio Sacco
winter beach -
the fisherman's rod
as sundial -
JapanKazuo Horinouchi
occasionally drizzling rain
a cargo ship
as a peace carrier -
CanadaLuminita Suse
treasure hunting
a crab discovers
our flip-flops -
IndiaVandana Parashar
ebbing tide
more and more
of me revealed -
JapanJiro Oba
to mourn
autumn passing by--
Dutch ship’s staysail -
CroatiaMihovila Ceperic-Biljan
deserted shore
in a folded fishing net
the shells of summer -
AustraliaMarietta McGregor
the way we grasp
treasured memories
sounding whale