paperboats

Competition

Paperboats Haiku Competition

PAPERBOATS HAIKU COMPETITION

Competition Winners and Highly Commended Entries

Thank you to everyone that entered our Paperboats Haiku Competition. We had a huge number of entries so congratulations to all of the winners and highly commended entries.

A special thank you to our guest judge Kevin MacNeil and to the children of Outdoor Kindergarten and School ZeMě, Řevnice, in the Czech Republic for providing the wonderful illustrations to go with the haiku.

Haiku for a Fossil Fuel Treaty

Over 16 winner

Kirsten Cliff Elliot

blue sky day
still, acting as bellwether
this unknown cat

Under 16 winner

Brodie Milne

I tend my garden
as a meditation hope
in a broken world

Over 16 - Highly Commended

Taylor Jo Kelly

in the sunset
of a cloudy day
windmill

Annette Akkerman

winter evening
around the Netflix fireplace
in a thick jumper

Suria Tei

drip, drip, drip —  
under the leaked tap
a dented slab

Urszula Marciniak

helplessness
her grandchildren’s hair also
smells of coal smoke

Susie Johnston

Her belly swollen
Ocean births the agony
of what’s inside her

Richard Beven

Autumn wind shaking
old leaves off the poplar trees.
I make the same wish.

Ed Woods

please tell me again
how I started a gas war
I just drive to work

Under 16 - Highly Commended

Vitek Menci

in it’s cozy den
a freshly hatched kiwi
choking on coal dust

Massi Leech

A buried fossil
So fragile it could crumble
When it’s uncovered

Luciana Hopkins and Alysha Iowe

Warming winds whisper
Icebergs weep in silent tears
Earth calls for our care.

Agnes Tarongi

Waves crash, winds collide
nature’s voice cries out for change
the world needs to stop

Haiku for a Rewilding Nation

Over 16 winner

Marie Derley

room service! –
I change the old straw
of the insect hotel

Under 16 Winner

Danish Yumnam

a bowl of salad
how green my nation
used to be

Over 16 - Highly Commended

Annette Akkerman

nature girl
on top of her hair clip
a real butterfly

Roslyn Weaver

Too tired to weed
I decided to read and
called it rewilding

Urszula Marciniak

my fenced garden
in the fall wild boars come
to look at me

Iain MacRath

Fitheach ‘cumail suil
mointeach ruisgt’ gun ghluasad
tir a’ gabhail anail

Samuel Walker

grandpa
too weak to mow his lawn
wild flowers

Lesley Buchan Donald

Native Scottish Black Bee

Eydent wee craitur
Simmer distilled in honey–
The ling is bloomin

Elizabeth McFarland

a robot mows
round the residential home–
all eyes watch and wait

Kirsten Cliff Elliot

blackbird morning
waiting for a city bus
within the fog

Under 16 - Highly Commended

Massi Leech

A fox roaming land
Everyone letting it be
A warm soul in all

Lucie Francis

Once there was a bee
The bee was a helpful bee
That made more babies

Alexander Hunt

Heather sweeps the hills
Wolves return to silent glens
Wild breath fills the land

Ariana Paterson

Glaciers melting
But seals still sparkling on ice
They’re slowly dying

Emma Paterson

Trees, seas, bees and us.
We are in this together.
Be hopeful for Earth.

Ivy Adair-Meck

A butterfly lands on a red flower
Chicks shatter eggs
in the nest

About the Judge

Kevin MacNeil is a multi-award-winning, widely published and broadcast writer who has taught and performed internationally. He has written six books (novels, poetry, aphorisms) and edited six books (including works by Robert Louis Stevenson and Iain Crichton Smith), plus he has written for cinema, stage, radio and television. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at University of Stirling.