Competition

Paperboats Haiku Competition

PAPERBOATS HAIKU COMPETITION

This competition is now closed.

Thank you for all your amazing entries. The results can be viewed here.

What is a Haiku?

A haiku is a traditional Japanese poem consisting of three lines containing respectively five, seven and five syllables.

‘Haiku is more than a form of poetry; it is a way of seeing the world. Each haiku captures a moment of experience; an instant when the ordinary suddenly reveals its inner nature and makes us take a second look at the event, at human nature, at life’ A.C. Missias

I kill an ant
and realise my three children
have been watching.

Shuson Kato (1905-1993)

Competition Categories

Rewilding Nation – under 16
Rewilding Nation – 16 & over
Fossil Fuel Treaty – under 16
Fossil Fuel Treaty – 16 & over

How to Enter

To enter the competition here are some rules and guidelines.

Your haiku should be on the theme of either Rewilding Nation or the Fossil fuel Treaty.
No more than one entry per person on each theme.
Your haiku should consist of three lines. We’re not going to be super-strict on the traditional 5-7-5 syllable count, but please treat these as the maximum limits for each line.
Be imaginative in your treatment of theme. The wild isn’t all about wolves and eagles; it’s about seagrass and snails (and other things) as well. How will we power our lives when we stop turning coal and oil into fuel? Haiku that celebrate wind, wave and sun are very welcome.
The winning entry in each category will receive a prize of £100 and be published in a special edition of the Paperboats Zine. Highly commended entries will also be published in the Zine and receive a Paperboats badge made by Glasgow Artist David McDiarmid, based on an original design by George Wyllie.
Your haiku can be in English, Scots or Gaelic or varieties thereof.
The chief judge is the award-winning novelist, poet and haiku aficionado extraordinaire Kevin MacNeil.
The deadline for entries is Monday 14th October 2024.
Get Writing!
Submit your entries using the form below, or send it in using one of our Haiku Competition Postcards.

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.

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