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Haiku Hike | Serenity

An Urban Poetry Hike in Downtown Tucson


About  

Presented by The Downtown Tucson Partnership and the University of Arizona Poetry Center, the 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 season, beginning on the first day of spring and ending June 1. An urban poetry 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.

20winning haiku poems

displayed throughout the Spring season

selected by poet laureate of Tucson, TC Tolbert

1,000approx. footsteps on the Haiku Hike

 

The 2024 submission form is now closed.

Judging

Haiku entries are judged by Tucson's poet Laureate, TC Tolbert. Click here to learn more about how to write a haiku. Twenty winning poems are selected from hundreds of haiku submissions. All 20 winners receive public recognition and their work featured on public signage downtown, online and in the media.

Guidelines

A participant may enter the competition once, submitting a maximum of three original haiku. We will only consider haiku that follows the three line, 5-7-5 syllable count format of American haiku. Submissions that don’t follow this format won’t be considered.

A few general rules:

  1. One entry per person, with a maximum of three haiku allowed.
  2. Once your haiku are submitted, you aren’t able to edit them. Be sure to review them before you hit submit.
  3. Poets whose haiku were selected in previous Haiku Hike competitions are not eligible to win in 2024.
  4. We will only consider haiku that follows the three line, 5-7-5 syllable count format of American haiku. Submissions that don’t follow this format won’t be considered.

       


 

 

Previous Competitions:

 

5th annual Haiku Hike Stats

Theme: Serenity

2,069haiku were submitted

1,385submissions came from Tucson

29different states represented in the submissions

27different countries represented in the submissions

 Winning Haiku 2024

 

4th annual Haiku Hike 2023

Theme: Planting Seeds

1,556haiku were submitted

1,114submissions came from Tucson

28different states represented in the submissions

23different countries represented in the submissions

 Winning Haiku 2023

 

3rd annual Haiku Hike 2022

Theme: Metamorphosis

1,056haiku were submitted

635submissions came from Tucson

29different states represented in the submissions

28different countries represented in the submissions

Winning Haiku 2022

 

2nd annual Haiku Hike 2020 (postponed to 2021)

Theme: Living in the Present Moment

712haiku were submitted

572submissions came from Tucson

14different states represented in the submissions

8different countries represented in the submissions

Winning Haiku 2020/2021

 

1st annual Haiku Hike 2019

Theme: Life In the City

977haiku were submitted

825submissions came from Tucson

12different states represented in the submissions

5different countries represented in the submissions

Winning Haiku 2019