f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

..  The newest issue of Frogpond [Vol. 32:1, Winter 2009], the journal of the Haiku Society of America, arrived at my door this snowy February afternoon.  Frogpond always has a lot of winning haiku, but this issue also announces the winners of HSA’s most prestigious annual contests: The 2008 Kanterman Merit Book Awards for best published books in 2007; the 2008 Henderson Award for best haiku; and the 2008 Brady Award for best senryu.

As usual, several of f/k/a‘s Honored Guest Poets have been honored this year.

• John Stevenson received 1st and 3rd place awards in the Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest for 2008:

Thanksgiving–
fifteen minutes
of mince pie

[1st Place, 2008 Henderson Contest]

butterfly
my attention
attention span

[3rd Place, 2008 Henderson Contest]

• Michael Dylan Welch won 2nd Place in the Gerald Brady Memorial Contest for 2008, with this senryu:

busy Italian restaurant–
happy birthday
sung to the wrong table

[2nd Place, 2008 Brady contest]

• Among the Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Awards for 2008:

• Roberta Beary’s The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press 2007) placed third [find poems and discussion at f/k/a here]
• While Matt Morden’s Stumbles in Clover (Snapshot Press 2007; discussed here at f/k/a) shared Honorable Mention honors with Gary Hotham’s Missed Appointment (Lilliput Review 2007; featured at f/k/a in posts here and there)
• The Best Anthology award went to Jim Kacian’s Big Sky – The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press 2007; find sample poems at the bottom of this prior post)
• The Best Haibun award went to “Dr. Bill” w.f. owen for his book small events (Red Moon Press 2007)

.. In the very near future, we’ll share poems from the Winter 2009 issue of Frogpond written by our Honored Guests (update: go here and there).  Below the fold, you will find a list of all the winners from the three contests described above (soon, you will be able to find all the winning poems and the comments of the judges by clicking on the link for each contest at the HSA Haiku Contests page):

Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Awards for 2008 (judged by George G. Dorsty and Marie Summers):

• First Place: Desert Hours by Marian Olson (LIly Pool Press 2007)
• Second Place: The Whole Body Singing by Quendryth Young (self-published)
• Third Place: The Unworn Necklace by Roberta Beary (Snapshot Press 2007)
• Honorable Mention [tie]: Stumbles in Clover by Matt Morden and Missed Appointment by Gary Hotham (Lilliput Press 20007)
• Best Translation: The Rabbit in the Moon by Kayoko Hashimoto
• The Best Anthology: Big Sky – The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, Red Moon Press 2007)
• The Best Haibun: small events by w.f. owen (Red Moon Press 2007)

.. Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest for 2008 (judged by Jennie Townsend and Christopher Patchel):

• First Place: John Stevenson
• Second Place: Kristen Deming
• Third Place: John Stevenson
• Honorable Mention (unrankes): Garry Gay, Linda Jeannette Ward

Gerald Brady Memorial Contest for 2008 (judged by Alexis Rotella and Scott Mason):

• First Place: David P. Grayson ..
• Second Place: Michael Dylan Welch
• Third Place: Margaret Chula
• Honorable Mentions (unranked): Kenneth Elba Carrier, Marian Olson, Catherine J.S. Lee, Robert Mainone