Touchstone Awards

2022 Touchstone Awards for Distinguished Books — Awarded and Honorable Mentions

The Haiku Foundation is pleased to announce The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award winners and honorable mentions for books of haiku and related forms published in 2022.  The ninety-five books nominated for this year’s awards represent a rich variety of English-language books from many nations and haiku traditions.  Panel members read every book and then each one nominated ten books for consideration. Through a series of votes and discussion, the panel members arrived at the Short List.  Following another round of voting and discussion, the panel members selected two award winners and four honorable mentions.

 

The Touchstone Short List included outstanding volumes of haiku, haibun and haiga showcasing a wide range of subject matter and themes and spanning an equally broad spectrum of styles, from traditional and nature-based works to experimental and language-based treatments.

 

I speak for the entire panel when I say that everyone recognized that each book on the Short List was unique and had great merit. I can attest to the difficulty of distinguishing the ‘best’ among these books. I wish to thank the Distinguished Books Award Panelists — Susan Antolin, Kat Lehmann,  Peter Newman, Victor Ortiz, and Tom Sacramona — for their diligence, expertise, and effort. The Awarded and Honored Books reflect the panel’s assessment of the most noteworthy offerings from this year’s highly distinguished field.
Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Winners for 2022
  • Day, Cherie Hunter. Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (Durham, N.C: Backbone Press, 2022).
  • Smith, Crystal Simone. Ebbing Shore (Durham, N.C: Horse & Buggy Press, 2022).
Honorable Mentions
  • Barlow, John & Ferris Gilli (editors). Where Rain Would Stay: The Haiku Poetry of Peggy Willis Lyles (Ormskirk, UK: Snapshot Press, 2022).
  • Bennett, Brad. a box of feathers (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2022).
  • Metz, Scott. ea’s e (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2022).
  • O’Connor, Sean. The God of Bones (Uxbridge, UK: Alba Publishing, 2022).

 

Bruce H. Feingold

Touchstone Awards Chairperson and Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards Coordinator

This Post Has 6 Comments

  2. Congratulations all!! It was a high honor for my book to make the short list this year and an absolutely thrilled to be considered alongside these outstanding poets and their work. Thank you for greatly enriching the genre and inspiring the community — I offering a few more must-have titles to add to my library!!

  4. Huge congrats to Cherie and Crystal!

    As well to the honorable mentions! I have 10 of the shortlisted books, and as I was rereading them I realized how difficult it was going to be for the judges. Lots of great work to read. And now I need to get the titles I don’t have.

    Congrats again to all!

  5. Congratulations to the winners and the honourable mentions. Would like to read these. The judges would have had a hard time reading 95 books and selecting 4 out of those. Congratulations to them too.

  6. Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Winners for 2022:
    Day, Cherie Hunter. Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (North Durham, N.C: Backbone Press, 2022).
    Smith, Simone Crystal. Ebbing Shore (North Durham, N.C: Horse & Buggy Press, 2022).

    Congratulations to both winners!

    I’ll also be reprinting, in full, the review for Cherie Hunter Day’s incredible “Miles Deep in a Drum Solo” in the inaugural edition of The Pan Haiku Review.

    Congratulations to the honourable mentions too!

    kind regards,
    Alan

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