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. All winning entries are listed below. Great thanks goes to all 680 haiku poets for their excellent submissions 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 towels
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
Minh-Triêt Pham, 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 Chunghoo, 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