What's going on
The Haiku Competition
As part of the festival of creativity, Poetry Whitchurch are delighted to host the inaugural Caldecott haiku competition.
Competition theme
The theme for the competition this year is simply "countryside". Haikus on that subject (only) will be eligible for submission and consideration.​
Categories
There will be two categories:
- under 18s (as of 21 March 2026) and;
- adult.
There will be a £50 prize for the winner of each category.
Submission details
- Submissions are free of charge
- Submissions must be from UK residents
- Each poet can submit a maximum of two poems
- Submission poems must not have been published previously or be under current consideration for other poetry prizes.
​- Poems should be submitted by email to: poetrywhitchurch@hotmail.com by 5pm on 1 March 2026.
- The poem must attached in a Word or PDF format. This attachment must contain the poem only (no other details of the author, or any other details, should be included in the attachment).
- The covering email should contain the author's name, address and date of birth.
Judging
- The competition will be judged by Siân Hughes, winner of the Seamus Heaney Award, the Arvon International Poetry prize.
- Siân's poetry collection The Missing was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and shortlisted for the Aldeburgh and Felix Dennis awards. Her poem Secret Lives from this collection won the TLS/Poems on the Underground competition. Siân's novel Pearl was longlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize.
- The poems will be "judged blind" (i.e. the judge will see the poem only, by category, without details of the author).
- The winning poem will be announced at the Caldecott festival in Whitchurch on 21 March. The winning poets will be invited to attend the ceremony.
- The judge's decision will be final
About the Haiku
- A haiku is a traditional form of short poetry of Japanese origin. Whilst there are many variations, Haiku are synonymous with the idea of capturing a single moment in verse. They follow a 3 line stanza format, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line. This is the interpretation that we will use in judging the poems.
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Should you need any further information, please email: poetrywhitchurch@hotmail.com