Announcements

Winners of the 2017 Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition

And the Winners are ... 

2017 Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial
Haiku and Senryu Competition

Judges:
Linda Papanicolaou
Brad Bennett

This year there were almost 6,000 poems entered in the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition. It is impressive and very heartening that so many students entered their poems. We were especially struck by the range of emotions embedded in the poems, from hope and glee all the way to pain and loneliness. We hope that poetry, and haiku in particular, continues to provide an outlet for these young writers to express these feelings through concrete imagery.

What did we look for in these haiku and senryu? We looked for a fresh and successful rendering of a moment observed, a deft portrayal of concrete sensory experiences, an allusion to emotions rather than personal revelation, simple language, and a strong voice, all of which are necessary when writing excellent haiku and senryu. We were also looking for a distinctive young person’s voice in each of the winning poems. 

We felt honored to be asked to judge this contest. We very much enjoyed the whole process, from reading the poems, to rereading the poems, to rereading the poems again, to discussing the poems we most appreciated, to whittling all the wonderful poems down to a mere six winners. There were many more that deserved praise. But the final six resonated for us. Their writers showed creativity, voice, and knowledge of the craft of writing a successful haiku. Congratulations to the winners!

In the summer heat
endless jump shots
on a broken hoop

    Stephanie Okeke
    Gardena, CA
    Grade 12

This haiku very effectively accentuates how oppressive a heat wave can be. The word “endless” is the first indication that this heat has gone on long enough. Not only that, all the basketball player has to shoot at is one “broken” hoop. That’s disheartening!  The writer, by carefully selecting these words, has masterfully alluded to feelings of loneliness and boredom, perhaps as oppressive as the heat. But we can also appreciate the writer’s dedication to practice. Well executed!

tea leaves
she stirs them
for something better

    Olivia Shannon
    Atlanta, GA
    Grade 7

One of the common themes of the human condition is to want to change our lives for the better, especially if we’re struggling with something. We often go to great lengths to shake things up, but sometimes we do little things to make a difference. Like stirring some tea leaves. So this poem connects with a universal desire. In addition, the unknown subject “she” brings some wonderful mystery to this poem. Is the writer speaking autobiographically? Is it about someone important in the writer’s life…a friend, a mother, a sister? The meaning changes depending on this choice, and that ambiguity gives this senryu added intrigue and resonance.

Amber alert
one desk
empty

    Campbell Serrano
    Atlanta, GA
    Grade 7

A common misperception about a senryu is that it’s a humorous poem that focuses on human foibles. Not so—as this poem shows, it can also be about deadly serious matters, and emotion. The effectiveness of this poem lies in its minimalism and its shape, an inverted triangle that narrows to one start word, “empty”, on the third line. Rather than telling—or even showing—the emotional responses of the other students, the emptiness of that desk places us in the classroom, feeling directly the unspeakable fear of a child’s kidnapping. 

our parrot shrieks
my father’s name
in my mother’s voice

    Cole Mitchell
    Newport Coast, CA
    Grade 12

This is a classic, wonderfully funny senryu. Since parrots learn what they hear often, it speaks volumes about the dynamics of a household in which the mother’s and the family parrot’s voices mirror each other. The choice of a single word can make or break a poem. In this case it’s the opening “our”, which sets the poem within the child’s point of view and frames the joke with a knowing humor.

father’s silhouette
cut from the photo
his hand still on her shoulder

    Cole Mitchell
    Newport Coast, CA
    Grade 12

This is a powerful senryu. The author uses a concrete image, an altered photograph, to allude to some very strong feelings. Why is the father cut out? Is this a “broken” family? Is the father no longer living? Is the girl mad at the father? And even though an attempt has been made to cut this man out, his emotional impact lingers on. In addition, the last line is longer than the first two, and that adds to the lingering effect of the hand, and the pain.

millions of stars
my father
points out a planet

    Daisy Solomon
    Atlanta, GA
    Grade 8

The emotional strength of this haiku is its nostalgic evocation of childhood memories of stargazing on clear summer nights. How many of us have been taught by our fathers to pick out the constellations and planets? In its simplicity of words, this haiku is well crafted, with both cut and kigo (“a million stars” would be a late summer/early autumn reference), and the choice of imagery draws a wonderful contrast between the immensity of the night sky and the intimacy of a father teaching his child that some worlds are not quite as far away as the stars.


About our judges:

Linda Papanicolaou

A middle school art teacher and art historian, Linda Papanicolaou became interested in haiku and haiga in the late 1990s when she taught a 5th grade art lesson that combined leaf printing and haiku. The leaf prints were beautiful, the haiku not, and she realized she'd have to learn more about haiku. Although she never taught that lesson again, she has become a committed haiku poet who also writes senryu, haiga, haibun and renku. She has published widely and is a member of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, Haiku Poets of Northern California, and the Haiku Society of America. For the past twelve years she has edited Haigaonline. 

Brad Bennett

Brad Bennett is an elementary school teacher in the Boston area and has been teaching haiku to kids for over twenty years. Brad’s haiku have been published in a variety of journals and magazines. He is a member of the Summer Street Haiku Group, the Boston Haiku Society, and the Haiku Society of America. His first haiku book, a drop of pond, published by Red Moon Press, was awarded a Touchstone Distinguished Book Award for 2016 by The Haiku Foundation.

Nick of Time Play: The Movie

We need your help. As the Nick Virgilio Writers House in Camden, New Jersey nears completion, we are creating programming for writers of all ages. We are filming the play Nick of Time...Nick of Time, by award-winning South Jersey playwright Joseph M. Paprzycki, as the basis of a dynamic documentary, premiering at Haiku North America this Fall.

To complete this foundational programming, we need to raise $6,000. Your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation supports this and future programs. 

By funding our project, you’re saying you care about inspiring (and aspiring) writers, you care about kids, you care about literacy and you care about building community resources in places in need. 

Thanks for helping. 
Actors Bob Weick (right) playing Nick Virgilio and Ned Pryce (left).

Actors Bob Weick (right) playing Nick Virgilio and Ned Pryce (left).

NVHA is Proud to launch its New Website

Welcome to our new website! We will be adding more and more content, news and updating our members, friends and supporters monthly on upcoming events, workshops and contests. Visitors to the site will be kept informed on the progress of our new Writers House as we get closer to our grand opening and ribbon cutting! We are very excited to get our website launched and welcome you to engage with us online. 

We also welcome participants in the annual Nick Virgilio haiku and senryu competition sponsored by the Haiku Society of America. This year we are asking for participants to make a voluntary contribution with their entries so that we can increase the amount of the scholarship fund and make the awards much more prize worthy! If our participants are able to donate a $1 or whatever they are able, it could make a huge difference and add a great deal of excitement to our competition!   

Our Writers House should be operational in the next few months and we will be sharing and working with some of our creative partners, not only in haiku and other forms of poetry, but in related literary fields to present some of the finest collaborative programming that you will experience anywhere. Our newly expanded and energized Board of Directors welcomes you to a very important year for the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association!

Thank You for Your Continued Support,

George Vallianos, President
Nick Virgilio Haiku Association