Haiku Contest 2026, Online Haiku Competition
Quick answer: Enter Writory's monthly haiku contest 2026. Haiku and senryu judged on five criteria, cash prizes, certificates for every poet, results on the 30th monthly.
Writory's monthly poetry contest welcomes haiku from poets everywhere, and this page is for you if seventeen syllables are your whole world. Entries open on the 1st of every month, close on the 25th, and results arrive on the 30th. Cash prizes go to the winners, every entrant receives a participation certificate, and haiku compete on equal footing with poems of every length.
Every haiku you submit receives a five-criteria score breakdown in your profile: creativity, emotion, structure, language, and theme. Traditional or modern, strict 5-7-5 or free-form, senryu too, all are welcome. You will be competing alongside poets from more than 50 countries.
Elsewhere, reading fees often run higher and end in silence; here, five dollars is answered within the month, with a blind human reading, a score out of 100, and a certificate in your name. A haiku is judged as a complete poem, never as a lesser form.
Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest where haiku and senryu compete for cash prizes, with a five-criteria score for every entry.
Why enter
- Brevity is never penalized: a three-line haiku is scored with the same care and weight as a hundred-line poem.
- Judges respect the craft of the form, from the kigo (season word) to the kireji (cutting word), and modern haiku without either are equally at home.
- A fresh contest every month means twelve chances a year to place your best haiku.
- No theme restrictions: seasons, city life, love, loss, or a single dewdrop, write what the moment gives you.
- An international stage with poets from 50+ countries, and your haiku on the leaderboard beside every style of verse.
What winners and entrants receive
- Cash prizes for the monthly winners.
- Winners receive free entry into next month's contest.
- A participation certificate for every single entrant.
- The top 10 poems feature on the monthly leaderboard.
Haiku, senryu, and haiku sequences are all welcome, whether you follow the classical 5-7-5 pattern or write in the modern free style.
Key facts
- Entries open the 1st, close the 25th at 11:59 PM IST, results on the 30th.
- One poem $5, two poems $8, five poems $15 (Rs 150 / Rs 220 / Rs 450 in India).
- Every poem scored by human judges on five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme.
- A participation certificate for every entrant, not only winners, and the score is visible in your profile.
- Cash prizes for winners, free entry the following month for winners, open worldwide from age 13, any language.
Questions
Can I enter a haiku in a general poetry contest?
Yes, absolutely. Writory judges every poem on its own terms, so a haiku is never at a disadvantage against longer work. Many of our highest-scoring entries are short poems.
How is a haiku judged fairly against longer poems?
Every entry is scored on the same five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language, and theme. A haiku that lands its image and its cut can score full marks on structure and language, and you see the full breakdown in your profile.
What does it cost to enter the haiku contest?
The entry fee is small and is shown in your local currency on the submit page. Every entrant receives a participation certificate, and three consecutive months of participation earns you a free entry.
When are the haiku contest results announced?
Entries open on the 1st of each month and close on the 25th. Results are announced on the 30th, and winners get free entry into the next month's contest.
Is a haiku really judged equally against longer poems?
Yes. Every poem is scored on the same five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. A haiku that lands its turn cleanly scores on structure and language the way a strong sonnet does; brevity is a form, not a handicap.
By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
Enter the September contest · All poetry competitions 2026: deadlines & prizes · International poetry contest · Past winners · Read the winning poems