Golden Triangle Business District in D.C. Launches Annual Haiku Contest

Washington, D.C. (December 12, 2017) – Calling all poets and would-be poets, from around the globe or around the corner! The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District in Washington, D.C. is proud to announce the return of its annual Golden Haiku contest, a unique poetry competition that creates a magical city experience by inviting thousands daily to enjoy a poetic stroll along some of Washington, D.C.’s most iconic streets.

Submissions for the Golden Triangle’s 2018 Golden Haiku contest will be accepted through Feb. 2, 2018, and the Haiku entries will be judged once again by an esteemed panel of haiku experts. The recommended theme will be “Spring in the City,” but other haiku submissions will be accepted. Each participant may enter only one time, submitting a maximum of three haiku on the Golden Triangle’s online submission form.

Award-winning haiku entries, along with dozens of other judge favorites, will be featured throughout March on colorful signs that are displayed on planter boxes along city sidewalks, in front of major office buildings within the business improvement district. In addition to first, second and third place awards presented from all submissions, the contest will also award a regional favorite. Haiku entries will be limited to three per person.

According to the Haiku Society of America, a haiku is “a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.” Judging for the Golden Haiku competition will follow guidelines established by the Haiku Society of America. As such, syllable and line count can vary from the three-line, 5-7-5 syllable format that many are accustomed to using.

“Our Golden Haiku competition engages people from all over the world by inviting them to help us bring some color and poetry to the streets of our neighborhood, and we’re proud of how it keeps growing each year,” said Golden Triangle BID Executive Director Leona Agouridis. “We want these haiku poems to add some warmth to those late winter days in our city, for the enjoyment of all who travel along our busy sidewalks.”

This year’s entries will be judged by the following distinguished poets:

Abigail Friedman is the author of The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan (Stone Bridge Press); I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda (Stone Bridge Press); and Street Chatter Fading (Larkspur Press). She is on the Board of Trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., and, in 2014, she founded The Wisteria Group.

John Stevenson is managing editor of The Heron’s Nest. A former President of the Haiku Society of America, he has served as editor of Frogpond. John Stevenson is the author of books such as “Quiet Enough,” “Some of the Silence,” “Live Again,” and “(d)ark” and will be judging from Albany, New York.

Kit Pancoast Nagamura has been a columnist for The Japan Times for over a decade, and appears as a regular on NHK WORLD‘s “HAIKU MASTERS” and “Journeys in Japan” programs. She is a recent prize winner in Japan’s prestigious Ito-en Oi Cha Haiku Contest, a member of the Haiku International Association, and will be judging from Japan.

For more information about the contest and to submit a haiku, visit www.goldentriangledc.com/haiku.

About the Golden Triangle BID

The Golden Triangle BID is a non-profit corporation that works to enhance the Golden Triangle — the 43-square-block central business district that stretches from the White House to Dupont Circle. The primary focus of the BID is to provide a clean, safe, and vibrant environment within this remarkable neighborhood, and to retain and attract businesses to the Golden Triangle. Founded in 1997, the Golden Triangle BID encourages economic development through capital improvement projects, a variety of engaging events, and public art projects. The BID connects its members to numerous resources, events, and information in and around the neighborhood and strives to increase quality of life through public safety and maintenance services. Together with corporate and government partners, the BID develops and implements programs that strengthen the vitality of the Golden Triangle.

Media Contact:
Steve Simon
ssimon@goldentriangledc.com

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