6th Raven/Gavran Haiku Contest 2026, Haiku zbornik - Ludbreg

Thrilled to have won the 6th Raven/Gavran Haiku Contest (2026) organized by Haiku zbornik - Ludbreg, Croatia. A total of 95 haiku entries from around the world were submitted to the competition. The results were announced during the 29th Haiku Meetings, organized by the Dragutin Novak Culture and Information Center, Croatia.

Here is the link: 29. Haiku susreti 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RvRnuRFdfo

Zdenko Oreč Gavran (1930-2020) was the founder of the Ludbreg Haiku Gatherings. In his honor and memory, the 6th Gavran Haiku Competition was organized this year.
Many thanks to the judge Nina Kovačić and to the editor Boris Nazansky.

https://czkidn.hr/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Zbornik-2026-web.pdf

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PRVO MJESTO/FIRST PLACE 

Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan 

pukotine rastu    cracks deepen 

u tatinim cvikerima    in dad’s old glasses 

skušasto nebo*      mackerel clouds* 

*nizovi slojevitih altokumulusa slični prugama na leđima skuše 

rows of layered altocumulus clouds resembling stripes on the back of a mackerel 

hrvatski prijevod / Croatian translation by Boris Nazansky 

Originalno i lijepo povezivanje dvaju dijelova haikua kojim se uspostavlja međuodnos ljudskog artefakta i pojave u prirodi. Majstorski je izbjegnut puki sentimentalizam, a dovoljno je suptilnog upućivanja na povezanost djeteta i roditelja. Altokumulusi najavljuju skoru promjenu vremena. U pučkoj meteorologiji oni znače dolazak kiše. Vrijeme teče i u očevim starim naočalama produbljuje postojeće napukline. Haiku ukazuje na krhkost života ostavljajući čitatelju dovoljno prostora za produbljivanje utisaka. 

An original and beautiful connection of two parts of haiku, which establishes the interrelationship between a human artifact and a phenomenon in nature. Mere sentimentality is masterfully avoided, and a subtle reference to the connection between a child and a parent is enough. Altocumulus clouds announce an imminent change in the weather. In folk meteorology, they mean the arrival of rain. Time flows and deepens the existing cracks in the father’s old glasses. The haiku points to the fragility of life, leaving the reader enough space to deepen the impressions.

Radmila Bogojević Award, 2025

I won 1st Prize in the 9th International Haiku Competition for the Radmila Bogojević Award 2025, where 174 talented poets from 30 countries participated. Deeply grateful to the jury, Jim Keyshen (USA), Dejan Bogojević, and Dušan Stojković for this honour!

hazy day—
untying the knots
of mom’s apron

maglovit dan –
odvezujem čvorove
na maminoj kecelji


https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10236839391274901&set=a.1133414265864

THF Monthly Kukai, 2025

THF Monthly Kukai - May 2025

theme: white

In May there were 183 submissions from thirty countries across five continents.
Ninety-four voters casting ballots determined the following results.

Honorable Mention 

receding wave

the whiteness 

of her breast scar 

— Hifsa Ashraf 

The juxtaposition of the wave and the breast scar is stunning and works on many levels. In the curved shape of both. In the gradual fade of white after a wave breaks and in the way a scar fades over time. But most movingly, when we consider the enormity of a wave's power, we have some idea of the magnitude of impact that scar has had on the person. Beautifully done.

Comments by Beverly Acuff Momoi is THF Monthly Kukai Commentator.

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-june-2025/#comment-165363

Creation : WoTS Haiku Contest 2024

 Honoured to be included in WOTS Haiku Contest 2024 by Creation! It is a commemorative anthology of selected haiku from the Word on the Street's first haiku contest.

cascading waterfall
on a loop
the hymn to God

Thanks to the editor, Susan Furst and the judge Christine L. Villa for the honour!

https://www.amazon.com/Creation-WoTS-Haiku-Contest-2024-ebook/dp/B0DJSR9R65?ref_=ast_author_mpb

 

Poetry Pea, 2024

unity in diversity
the many colors
of sky


featured poem of Poetry Pea video prompt, on podcast, S7E31, 31st July
also in Poetry Pea Journal, 4:24

S7E31 Poetry Across the Water New York to Dublin

https://youtu.be/xQ6BjpiTEdI?si=p9krC34shaUFycFe

THF Monthly Kukai, 2024

mossy headstone
the anonymity
of a war veteran

Honourable Mention in THF Monthly Kukai - July 2024

AHS Summer Solstice Haiga Kukai 2023 Seasonal

daydreaming…

wave after wave
sinking my blues

Highly Commended 
AHS Summer Solstice Haiga Kukai 2023 Seasonal, January 16 2024

https://australianhaikusociety.org/2024/01/16/results-of-the-ahs-2023-summer-solstice-haiga-kukai-seasonal/

2023 Marlene Mountain Memorial Contest

his turban folds her free will

– Hifsa Ashraf

This beautifully worded ku brings to mind how a turban is associated with family honour in India and how the onus of keeping that honour intact is on the girls, who are conditioned to be submissive and obedient. They are taught to unquestioningly accept and respect boundaries and discouraged to have a free will and a voice. I like how this is conveyed without it being in-the face.

Commentary by Vandana Parashar

Honorable Mentions - 2023 Marlene Mountain Memorial Contest Results Judged by Rowan Beckett and Vandana Parashar -  217 one-line poems entered 

H. Gene Murtha Memorial Senryu Contest, 2023

tunnel’s end… 

the sunlit face 

of a migrant child


Highly Commended - H. Gene Murtha Memorial Senryu Contest, 2023, organized by Prune Juice and Failed Haiku Journals.

https://failedhaiku.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/murtha-contest-finals-2023.pdfhttps://failedhaiku.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/murtha-contest-finals-2023.pdf

5th International Contest for The Prize “RADMILA BOGOJEVIC”

refugee camp
the winter stars, she names
after her missing friends

Commendation in the 5th International Contest for The Prize “RADMILA BOGOJEVIC”

5th Edition of Santoka International Haiku Contest, 2022

 5th EDITION OF SANTOKA INTERNATIONAL HAIKU CONTEST, 2022

Out of 213 submissions from 42 countries for the 5th Santoka International Haiku Contest.

HAIKU – WATER

1^st PLACE

HIFSA ASHRAF, PAKISTAN

Kofa sa vodom
Mali beskućnik meša
nestajuće sazvežđe

drinking water bucket
a homeless child stirs
the fading constellation

水のバケツ
消える星座を混ぜる
家なき子

https://www.santoka.rs/en/5th-edition-of-santoka-international-haiku-contest/

The Modern Kigo Project Competition, 2022

 The 2nd Modern Kigo Project Competition

‘SPRING Season’ 2022 WINNERS 

Joint 2nd place RUNNER-UP

Hifsa Ashraf (Pakistan)

KIGO: moth nap 

DEFINITION: 

Spring is the season of transformation;  it affects night sleep by causing short/insufficient sleep which may be depicted as a “moth nap”. 

HAIKU:

moth nap—   

drifting from dream

to dream 

Alan’s comments:

There’s a lilting, lullaby-like feel to this haiku which works so well. And the choice of the nocturnal moth for the kigo further adds to the whole. The idea that our dreams work in a different timescale to reality also added a touch of surreality—many dreams in a single ‘moth nap’!

Réka’s comments:

The imagery of a moth nap(ping) is enigmatic. I particularly like that the poet  constructs the imagery of her kigo around a moth rather than a butterfly. 

https://haikubasecamp.wordpress.com/2022/06/16/the-2nd-modern-kigo-project-competition/?fbclid=IwAR1t2ZaB7npYy7Yn-NwkPkU_h8YLYO1SXFXrs2rqrMI0NW-9TXUER7Ww1Es

Also included in The Pan Haiku Review, Issue 2

https://www.callofthepage.org/the-pan-haiku-review/

The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai, 2022

hat-trick of haiku :) 

Monthly Kukai, July  

Honorable Mention 

evening heat . . . 

mom holds my hands 

one last time

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Monthly Kukai, June

Second Prize 

back to school . . . 

a refugee child’s eyes 

fill with sunshine 

— Hifsa Ashraf (51 points - 6; 0; 4; 4; 1) 

There is an inherent and powerful “hook” (albeit experienced more strongly by some readers than by others) in the very mention of a child or children in haiku. With this comes the hazard that it is almost too easy to engage the reader’s sympathetic response without really delivering anything notable or specific. This poem has the merit of reminding us how the majority of children, in any culture, thrive on companionship and mental stimulus, just as much –– if not so obviously –– as a secure home and caring family.

In June there were 155 submissions from twenty-seven countries across five continents.

One hundred ten voters casting ballots determined the following results.

theme: sunshine

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-july-2022/

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Monthly Kukai, May 

Second Prize

wildflowers — 

the life we live 

without excuses 

 — Hifsa Ashraf (51 points - 3; 3; 6; 2; 2) 

 This haiku stands apart from the others in so far as the word blossoms has been sidestepped. It is at the same time the most enigmatic of them all. I do not know how to interpret “the life we live/without excuses”. I do know that idea pulls me in, and that I will return to ponder its meaning more than once, if not many times. Its meaning for me, that is.

theme: blossoms

In May there were 153 submissions from twenty-three countries across five continents.
Ninety-nine voters casting ballots determined the following results.

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-june-2022/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thf-monthly-kukai-june-2022

Touchstone Individual Poems Award, 2021

late-night train
the mother's lullaby
for everyone

— Hifsa Ashraf (kontinuum: kortárs haiku/contemporary haiku 1.1)

Touchstone Award for Individual Poems Winners for 2021

Commentary from the Panel:

“Who hasn’t been there. You’re tired and stressed from a long day at work, and you just want to get back home as hassle-free as possible. On a deeper level the train, plane, or bus commute also makes you feel “alone in a crowd,” especially at night. More existential still, maybe you feel like “a motherless child a long way from home” in the words of that old spiritual. These and other implied circumstances set the scene for us in the opening line. And then we hear a song. Not someone’s cellphone music that we dread, but rather a mother’s lullaby for the baby she cradles in her arms. A homely act which changes nothing, and yet transforms everything, about the circumstances. We are comforted now, more at peace. Each and all of us, within the sound of her voice.”

Comments by Meredith Ackroyd

This is a beautiful poem, with such depth. I can’t help but think of all the refugees leaving home by train, but also how this is a metaphor for any of us traveling in the dark and the unexpected comforts that we offer one another along the way. I think too that this poem speaks deeply to the work of mothering, which has societal impact that reaches far beyond any one family. I feel comforted by this poem each time I read it, and so in its own way it becomes a kind of lullaby too. Well done, Hifsa, and congratulations!

From The Haiku Foundation page: https://thehaikufoundation.org/touchstone-awards-for-individual-poems-2021/#comment-140977


The Haiku Foundation is pleased to announce The Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems for haiku published in 2021. Over 1500 poems were nominated this year by poets, readers and editors around the world. The Individual Poems Panel considered the poems as a group as well as individually. A first winnowing resulted in the Long List, some 57 poems from a wide range of journals and contests , and a second round of voting and discussion led to the Short List (30 poems). Our third and final round recognizes six haiku with the highest honor of Awarded Haiku.


The panelists: Roberta Beary, Chuck Brickley, Anna Maris, Pravat Kumar Padhy, Christopher Patchel, and Angela Terry

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French Translation by Serge Tome. 

late-night train 

the mother's lullaby 

for everyone 

train de nuit 

la berceuse de la mère 

pour tous 

won the Touchstone Individual Poems Award 2021, (kontinuum: kortárs haiku/contemporary haiku 1.1) Haïku reposant sur le mystère du train filant dans la nuit. Ici, c'est le thème de l'insomnie de l'enfant qui sert de motif. Le discours est réellement prenant et on semble faire partie du 'tous' de L3. Une image universelle, prenante et intemporelle.

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Longlisted for The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Award 2021 where there were 27 haiku out of 1,506 poems selected.

adding ellipses
to the darkest night
winter stars

Frogpond, issue 44:3 Autumn 2021

The 4th Basho-an International English Haiku Competition

fading stars
all those lullabies that I sing
back to grandma


薄れゆく星たち
祖母に歌ってあげ子守唄のすべて

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late summer afternoon
a grasshopper hops on
the moss covered buddha

晩夏の午後
苔むした仏像に跳ね上がる飛蝗

'10 winners' as selected by Mr. Lindsay in The 4th Basho-an International English Haiku Competition

The contest received 1,562 haiku(phrases) from 34 countries and regions. 

AHS Spring Equinox 2021 Haiga Kukai: Seasonal

Highly Commended

first chemo—
on her head scarf
pink blossoms

Hifsa Ashraf 

Judged and commented by Ron C Moss

This is another haiku that carries a very important message of hope and survival, which has been compassionately described by the poet. There’s a carefully crafted association between the headscarf, perhaps to cover the hair that has fallen after chemo, and the short life of a blossom, magnificent as it falls back to the earth. May we all shine so brightly in the light of our knowing.

THE 5th INTERNATIONAL HAIKU COMPETITION FOR THE PRIZE ′′ RADMILA BOGOJEVIC ′′

refugee camp
the winter stars, she names
after her missing friends


Praised by judges - THE 5th INTERNATIONAL HAIKU COMPETITION FOR THE PRIZE ′′ RADMILA BOGOJEVIC ′′

The Fifth International Haiku Contest “Cherry Blossom” 2021 by Bulgarian Haiku Union

social distancing…
I get closer
to the cherry blossoms

социална дистанция...
все повече се приближавам
до вишневите цветчета


2nd place winner in The Fifth International Haiku Contest “Cherry Blossom” 2021by Bulgarian Haiku Union

haiku hike - the 2nd annual Haiku Hike literary competition 2021

Thrilled to see my haiku as one of the winners out of 712 entries in the Haiku Hike-2nd Annual Literary Competition by The Downtown Tucson Partnership & the University of Arizona Poetry Center n showcasing as an acrylic signage in planters located along Congress Street & Stone Avenue.


autumn chill
the white feather clings
to a sewer grate

Haiku Hike
2nd Annual Literary Competition

On display starting the first day of Spring 2021: March 20
About

Presented by The Downtown Tucson Partnership (DTP) and the University of Arizona Poetry Center, the 2nd annual Haiku Hike literary competition showcases twenty winning haiku poems printed on acrylic signage in planters located along Congress Street and Stone Avenue. These signs provide visual and cultural interest throughout the Spring season, beginning Saturday, March 20 through June 1. A hike through downtown following the Haiku trail is the perfect opportunity for the public to get reacquainted with all that Tucson’s urban center has to offer......read more

https://downtowntucson.org/explore/events/haiku-hike

Australian Haiku Society, Summer Solstice Haiga Kukai 2020

 
foreign land…
a refugee child owns
the sandcastle

First Place in the Australian Haiku Society, Summer Solstice Haiga Kukai 2020 Seasonal.