It’s that time again! Is your haiku tired of being tucked inside your notebook? Those three little lines will be jumping for joy if you enter them in this haiku contest (no entry fee). The submission period opens December 10, 2024, and closes January 19, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

“Originating in Japan, haiku is the shortest form of poetry in the world. In a short descriptive verse, it captures a moment in the poet’s life or simply expresses the beauty of nature.

For more than a decade, the Golden Triangle BID has hosted the Golden Haiku poetry competition to bring pops of warmth, color, and inspiration to the streets of downtown DC during the late winter months. Each year, we invite the public to write and submit original, contemporary haiku for this temporary community art project. In 2021, we introduced a youth category, inviting students to explore haiku and perhaps become published poets, and in 2024 a sub-group for Regional/DC youth was added. The competition is open to all ages, worldwide.

Submissions are reviewed by an expert panel of judges; winning poets receive prizes, and winning haiku are displayed on colorful street signs in the tree boxes lining the streets of the Golden Triangle neighborhood.

Poets are invited to submit up to two original, self-authored haiku. Winning poets will win monetary prizes and recognition, while selected haiku (which includes winners) will be displayed throughout the neighborhood starting in March.”

Good Luck!