2024 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems — Awarded

Comments (14)

1. Hello readers,

   Due to multiple rule violations, I have removed several posts and am closing the comments.

   Please review our Code of Conduct.
   https://thehaikufoundation.org/about-thf/policies/#code-of-conduct

   Thank you,
   Robin Smith

2. Congratulations to all, both winners and all who made the lists. What a great honor for each of you. It’s wonderful to read your excellent poems.

3. Čestitam svima!

4. Okay, folks. Things are getting off topic here. This is not the place to debate such things. This is a place to recognize & congratulate the winners.

   I don’t want to remove posts, but some of these are skirting #8 of our Code of Conduct, and I will if they continue.

   8. Please stay on topic. (Moderators may comment regarding conduct on a thread but all other members should stay on topic.) Off topic posts may be removed without warning. If a thread needs to be removed, moderators, generally, will give a 24-hour notice of such intention. If the thread is bad enough, they can and will remove it immediately without warning.

   https://thehaikufoundation.org/about-thf/policies/#code-of-conduct

   Thanks for your cooperation,
   Robin Smith

5. Congratulations to all four Touchstone Award recipients and to all the poets nominated, longlisted, shortlisted and who write haiku – making the world a better place for it.

   I’m not sure ‘anonymous’ needs to make their points as the process is fairly clear. All contests, competitions and editorial decisions by their nature will be affected by human judgement and preferences. The Touchstones are decided by a panel and so any note of bias or predetermination would be challenged by others on the panel. I did not get an award but I’m fine with the process and the panel. Good luck to all in the community and keep writing!

6. Hello “Anonymous,”

   No statement was made because we are *always* careful about that. In a community as tight-knit as ours, it is impossible to have a panel of folks with no knowledge of anyone else’s poems, especially given that they are pre-published and often circulated all over the internet. They inevitably will recognize poems on the list.

   Folks in our community regularly workshop poems together in groups, between friends, in forums, and with instructors. We can’t have knowledge of or avoid all of those variables, but they no doubt regularly occur unbeknownst to us. In most cases, we can’t know which poets are close to whom.

   All poems go through three rounds of vetting and voting. The coordinators are fully aware of who is selecting and voting for what. This particular poem won based on selection and votes from the other four panelists, being among the top four highest-scoring poems in every round.

   Ultimately, we rely on our book of guidelines (which is reassessed yearly), oversight, and the integrity of our panelists and coordinators. Perhaps, in the future, a blanket conflict-of-interest notice is in order.

   Hope that helps,
   Robin

   1. Yes, I understand.

      We won’t share the voting details because of possible community backlash against a panelist. It wouldn’t be fair to put people who volunteer 40+ hours of their time in that position (they already deal with that when people don’t like their choices). Even the panelists don’t see who voted for what and how they scored; they are only made aware if one of them states it in discussion. They don’t even see the winners’ names until the public does.

      As I said, we re-evaluate our guidelines every year, and this will be discussed at our next committee meeting.

      If you’d like to discuss this further, I am happy to email you, or you can message me through the contact form. https://thehaikufoundation.org/contact/

      Thanks,
      Robin

7. Congratulations to all the poets! It’s almost impossible to process what it takes to even make the long list, so those on the short list and here awarded are to be seriously commended.

8. Congratulations to the winning poets! All of your poems were amazing!

9. I’m so honoured and happy! Many thanks to Gregory Longenecker, Marianne Paul, Agnes Eva Savich, Dan Schwerin, and Mary Stevens for this great honour. It means the world to me!
   Warmest congratulations to Brad Bennett, Cesar Ciobica, and Julie Schwerin.

10. Congrats to all! Happy Haiku Poetry Day!

11. Congratulations to all the winning poets, including everyone that made on the long/short list!

    1. Edit: Congratulations to all the winning poets, including everyone that made it on the long/short list!

12. Congratulations to all!

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