Fifth Annual Haiku Winners Celebrated at Mukai Farm & Garden
By Leah Okamoto Mann
NAP Contributor
On April 28, winners were announced at the Haiku Festival Finale at Mukai Farm & Garden on Vashon Island. The festival received 103 haiku from 12 countries around the world. This year, Vashon poet Ann Spiers evaluated each poem using criteria developed by Poetry Nation, a global community of amateur poets. The finale featured readings from Seattle’s civic poet Shin Yu Pai and Vashon poet Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma.
The prize winners are listed below:
▪️Category: Heritage
First Place: Geoffrey Philp (Jamaica)
Second Place: Grace McRae (USA)
Third Place: Brit Myers (USA)
▪️Category: Nature
First Place: Cezar Ciobica
Second Place: Shiva Bhusal (Nepal)
Third Place: Rick Clark (USA)
▪️Category: Reflections
First Place: Chen-ou Liu (Canada)
Second Place: Renée Roman (USA)
Third Place: Monica Kakkar (India/ USA)
▪️Category: Social Justice
First Place: Valentina Ranaldi-Adams (USA)
Second Place: Beata Czeszejko (Poland)
Third Place: Melinda Dubbs (USA)
▪️Category: Young Poets (Ages 1-12)
First Place: Cedar Olson (USA)
Second Place: Griffin Davies-Harkins (USA)
Third Place: Ashley Schloss (USA)
▪️Category: Young Poets (Ages 13-18)
First Place: Teo Contac (France)
Second Place: Axel Codd (USA)
Third Place: Eljohn Roque Santosildes (Philippines)
