2024 Tokutomi Memorial Contest Results
Contest Results Announced by the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society
by Kathabela Wilson, 2024 Contest Chair
The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society has announced the winners of the 2024 Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi Haiku Contest.
The judges for the 2024 contest were Hiroyuki Murakami and Yuzo Ono. Yuki Teikei is deeply indebted to them for so graciously sharing their time and expertise.
- Hiroyuki Murakami is a Japanese haiku poet living in Tokyo. He was a dōjin of Yukuharu Haiku Society to 2019 and has been a YTHS dōjin since 2022. Member of the Japanese Association of Haiku Poets and translator for Haiku International, the Haiku International Association’s journal. Regularly contributes haiku and commentary to Geppo and YTHS members’ anthologies. He published Harvest Moon, his own English/Japanese haiku collection in 2023.
- Yuzo Ono is a haiku poet and writer based in Japan. He studied at the University of Tokyo (BA) and the Royal College of Art (MRes) in the UK. He won the Modern Haiku Association Award for Criticism in 2002 and the Modern Haiku Association New Talent Award (honorable mention) in 2005. He is a councilor of the Haiku International Association and a member of the British Haiku Society. website: https://yuzo-ono.com/
In addition to the four prize-winning haiku, ten equally-ranked haiku were chosen by the judges for Honorable Mention.
1st Prize:
brightly lit office
a janitor mopping up
the lengthening night
~ Lisa Anne Johnson
2nd Prize:
gathered round the fire
our inner circle shrinking
in the longer night
~ Mariya Gusev
3rd Prize (two haiku tied for 3rd Prize):
with the first sunrise
everything is forgiven—
smell of fresh coffee
~ Priscilla Lignori
the violinist
undoing her top button
a summer concert
~ Marcia Burton
An Honorable Mention was awarded to each of the following people:
Carissa Coane, Ma. Milagros Dumdum, Peter Free, Kathy Goldbach, Shelli Jankowski-Smith, Lisa Anne Johnson (2), Priscilla Lignori, Marietta McGregor, Neal Whitman
Congratulations to all of these poets and great gratitude to the judges.
The illustrated brochure of all the haiku and the judges’ comments on the winners may be viewed by clicking on the brochure image at the top of this page, and/or downloaded here.