The Grand Prize Winner, Runners Up, Commended Entries and the Guest Judge selection of the sixth IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award were announced by Dr. A. Robert Lee at The Asian Conference on Literature, Librarianship & Archival Science 2016 in Kobe, Japan on April 8, 2016. An impressive 680 haiku poets from 60 different countries submitted to this year’s award.
Suraja Roychowdhury of the United States was selected as the Grand Prize Winner by Judge of the award, His Excellency Dr. Drago Štambuk, as well as by Guest Judge, Alan Summers, for his selection based on the theme of “Justice”.
Grand Prize Winner
sunny afternoon
a shadow
on the mammogram
Suraja Roychowdhury, United States
Runners Up
instead of moonlight
the bank commercial
at my window
Davor Marinković, Serbia
flowing river…
the spot where I poured
his ashes
Sandip Chauhan, United States
a morning’s labor
knead bread is awake
under tea towel
Harvey Jenkins, Canada
old house
a baby’s shoe
in the corner
Zlatka Timenova, Portugal
full moon –
foreign worker in streetlight
reading a letter
Saw Kee Wah, Malaysia
fresh grave
a thief took three roses
for a wedding
Ivanov, Belgium
spring afternoon
my hammock fills
with me
Rosa Clement, Brazil
snowflakes drift down
some melt on a hare’s nose
others survive
Juha Nikki, Finland
every step we take
we lurch against gravity –
walking miracles
Helen May Williams, United Kingdom
printed paper
thrown into the fire
black characters are gleaming
Nataša Ilić, Croatia
Commended
two snails
rightly divide
the grape leaf
Vitali Khomin, Ukraine
hum
of bees –
the om
Lynn Tara Austin, New Zealand
dishes left
too many days
geckos in my sink
Gregory Lance Skala, Canada
ripe summer
a small waterfall spins
a single yellow leaf
Dubravko Korbus, Croatia
on a cold doorknob
I feel loneliness
behind the walls
Nina Kovačić, Croatia
start of spring…
the sky cracked
on the pond ice
Vladimir Šuk, Croatia
new moon…
I don’t recognize my shadow
after the first chemo
Maya Lyubenova, Bulgaria
black-and-white photo –
my father
younger than I
Pham Minh-Triêt, France
I read carefully
the moles on your skin –
Braille letters
Diana Teneva, Bulgaria
planned city –
roads run straight to the hospital
and to the graveyard
Ajaya Mahala, India
night at the morgue
a fourth isn’t here
to play bridge
Azi Kuder, Poland
summer has ceased…
twig of a weeping willow
catching a straw
Jasminka Predojević, Croatia
winter night
fleece lined slippers
still hold his shape
Lysa Collins, Canada
time of visit –
the old lady in her armchair
waits for nobody
Joëlle Ginoux-Duvivier, France
morning raga
a loud yawn
before it ends
Aparna Pathak, India
library silence –
her bite into
a Granny Smith
Gérard Krebs, Finland
stargazing…
first knock in
my moonlit womb
Ramesh Anand, India
poetic justice…
the antelope jumps
over the moon
Mohammad Azim Khan, Pakistan
all souls day
after the mom’s hard work
a sparkling clean grave
John Tiong Chung Hoo, Malaysia
laundromat
her red socks dancing
in the suds
Ruth Powell, Canada
a holy service
in front of the tv set
a woman praying
Željko Funda, Croatia
new year’s eve
the attic mice nibbling on
my resolutions
Ljubomir Radovančević, Croatia
Guest Judge Selection: “Justice”
1st Choice
sunny afternoon
a shadow
on the mammogram
Suraja Roychowdhury, United States
2nd Choice
first snow
the red hat
of a refugee
Skaidrite Stelze, United States
3rd Choice
after therapy the same war
Lamart Cooper, United States
4th Choice
hallowed ground
so many ringtones
among the stones
Earl R. Keener, United States
5th Choice
war-torn city
all the coffin makers
working overtime
Barbara A. Taylor, Australia