Question about haiku competitions (in general)

[Marko.T]

Good day,

I've been writing Haiku for a long time and I decided to try to take part in some haiku competitions organized this year. But I can't find the answer to one question.

I want to ask how it is with copyright when I participate or I win a competition ?. Can I include the poems I submitted to the contest in my book of poems that I want to publish in the future? Or poems that I sent to the competition can´t be published not only in any printed / online magazine but also in my own collection after the competition?

[AlanSummers]

Dear Marko,

G'day!

I want to ask how it is with copyright when I participate or I win a competition ?.

Sometimes haiku competitions run by Japanese organisations look like they want to own the copyright. Always read carefully. Sometimes it's either a translation glitch into English or a misunderstanding on their part.

So this one appears to show that only the sponsors can have copyright:

Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest
Limit of 10 haiku.
Results are announced on October 12 to mark the death anniversary of Basho.
Please note the entry condition that copyright will remain with the sponsors.
Closes: July 31.
Cost: Free.
The official website has no information about this year’s contest. However, you may find details here:
https://www.haiku-hia.com/info_en/

I personally don't see how they can enforce that for a haiku, as it's a tiny poem, and poets are not given any prize money.

This Japanese contest does not appear to want to own the poet's haiku:

Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest
Limit 2 entries. One grand prize and two distinguished work prizes in each division (Division 1b is for non-Japanese entrants). Winners announced mid-October and posted to the website.
Submit: July 1-August 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website: http://samidare.jp/basho/box/13th%20e%20haiku%20contest%20guidelines%20for%20submission.pdf

This contest gives prize money:

Kusamakura Haiku Contest
Limit 2 haiku. First prize receives ¥30,000. One prize of ¥10,000, and eight prizes of ¥5000 each, plus 20 other prizes.

Winners informed by email at the beginning of November. Winning poems will appear on the website.
Closes: August 31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website: http://kusamakura-haiku.jp/boshu/index_e.html

The Haiku Society of America run contests and will not take copyright but reserve the right to publish the winners in their newsletter and in their contest archives webpage:

Harold G Henderson Award
Cash prizes totalling $US450 and winning haiku published in Frogpond and on the Haiku Society of America website. Limit 5 haiku.
Closes: July 31.
Cost: $US7/ entry (discount for HSA members).
Full details from the website: https://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-contests.htm

As I am involved with this contest (but as a non-voting team member as I support/mentor so many haiku poets via Call of the Page), you can rest assured we will not take or own your copyright, just reserve the right to publish it, along with your commentary if you are placed:

Trailblazer Contest
Limit 1 poem in each of the two categories – tanka/kyoka and haiku/senryu (includes multi-ku / woven poems on a single theme but not sequences that link and shift).

No winners as such, but a list of selected poems with commentaries and interviews and gradual release as an online anthology.

Results in early 2022.
Submit: August 1-31.
Cost: Free.
Full details from the website: https://www.trailblazercontest.com/submissions.html

Can I include the poems I submitted to the contest in my book of poems that I want to publish in the future?

Most if not all of us do that! I'd say yes! And yes please, as we might like to read your book!

Or poems that I sent to the competition can´t be published not only in any printed / online magazine but also in my own collection after the competition?

If you are placed (won, second, third, honorable mention etc...) it's not usual for a print journal or an online journal to consider what will be a previously published haiku.

There are exceptions, for instance Tinywords, you can submit one or two poems that were placed in contests: https://tinywords.com/about/

These are important questions, thank you for posting them!

Any more questions, just post them here!

warm regards,
Alan

Good day,

I've been writing Haiku for a long time and I decided to try to take part in some haiku competitions organized this year. But I can't find the answer to one question.

I want to ask how it is with copyright when I participate or I win a competition ?. Can I include the poems I submitted to the contest in my book of poems that I want to publish in the future? Or poems that I sent to the competition can´t be published not only in any printed / online magazine but also in my own collection after the competition?

[Marko.T]

Dear Alan Summers,

thank you VERY very much for the quick and detailed reply. You helped me a lot with it! ♥

It was just the "Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest" competition that was the one that aroused my caution and because of which I founded this topic and became more interested in copyright issues in haiku competitions.

I didn't have these questions in online magazines, I always found exact copyright information on the website (for example Chrysanthemum, The Heron's nest, Cattails, Frameless sky, Frog Pond, etc.). It specifies exactly what they have the copyright for and whether they return to the author. But I didn't find it that clearly defined in the competitions conditions.


Can I ask:

So If in the terms of a some contest is written for example someting like

"haikus will be displayed on our homepage / release in the anthology."

or it is determined exactly what they will do with my poems (for example how you write it about the "Harold Henderson competition") BUT at the same time it is not written that

"the copyrights are returned to the authors after the competition (as it is in the conditions of the competition  "Kusamakura haiku contest " and "Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest" that you mention and where I don't see it written so clearly)" 

My last question is: Don't I have to worry and look for answers? Or do you always recommend writing to the responsible person / organizer of the competition?


I apologize if I ask questions that are clear. I'm the type of careful person. It is very important for me to have the copyright to my poems even after the competition. Money to win is a pleasure, but it is not important to me. My pleasure is to share haiku with people and be part of the haiku world. I don't write poems because of competition, but on the other hand, I'm competitive, so I want try it O:)

So thank you very much for help AND when I publish a book in the future, I will definitely send you a printout as a thank you.

Warm regards

Marko

[AlanSummers]

Dear Marko,

Can I ask:

So If in the terms of a some contest is written for example someting like

"haikus will be displayed on our homepage / release in the anthology."

or it is determined exactly what they will do with my poems (for example how you write it about the "Harold Henderson competition") BUT at the same time it is not written that

"the copyrights are returned to the authors after the competition (as it is in the conditions of the competition  "Kusamakura haiku contest " and "Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest" that you mention and where I don't see it written so clearly)" 

Usually contests and journals will say about first rights, which mean it's your work but they want the right to publish it first and then after the poet can publish in a collection or someone else's anthology, I believe?

Some places might simply wish the right to post our haiku at a much later date, if a certain feature comes up perhaps?

For instance, on the Australian Haiku Society's various kukai challenges they'll say:

Posting your work in the AHS Winter Solstice String 2021 assumes the following:

Copyright of each haiku remains with the author. We request nonexclusive permission to publish your work on the AHS website and to republish it online at any future time.
https://australianhaikusociety.org/2021/06/21/ahs-winter-solstice-haiku-string-2021/

As you have discovered, not everyone clearly sets out about copyright, whether it's because it's not easily seen or they have neglected to cover that.

If there is no copyright notice, I guess they cannot claim ownership?  If prize money is involved I personally don't see that as owning someone's work. To me they'd have to pay a fee or commission the poet.

My last question is: Don't I have to worry and look for answers? Or do you always recommend writing to the responsible person / organizer of the competition?

I do know that organisers have been written to in the past and often something has been amended or clarified so yes, it would be beneficial if we did ask.

I don't believe anyone can claim a haiku verse that we have written unless we have been employed to write that poem. Prize money is prize money, it's to do with the competition itself. Many of us have disregarded certain contentious statements that entering a competition means that the poem belongs to them.

I apologize if I ask questions that are clear. I'm the type of careful person. It is very important for me to have the copyright to my poems even after the competition. Money to win is a pleasure, but it is not important to me. My pleasure is to share haiku with people and be part of the haiku world. I don't write poems because of competition, but on the other hand, I'm competitive, so I want try it O:)

So thank you very much for help AND when I publish a book in the future, I will definitely send you a printout as a thank you.

Warm regards

Marko

It is good to be careful! It feels very weird that someone or an organisation should obtain total rights over anything I've written, if they have not paid me a fee, or salary.

Look forward to your book!

warmest regards,
Alan
founder, Call of the Page

Dear Alan Summers,

thank you VERY very much for the quick and detailed reply. You helped me a lot with it! ♥

It was just the "Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest" competition that was the one that aroused my caution and because of which I founded this topic and became more interested in copyright issues in haiku competitions.

I didn't have these questions in online magazines, I always found exact copyright information on the website (for example Chrysanthemum, The Heron's nest, Cattails, Frameless sky, Frog Pond, etc.). It specifies exactly what they have the copyright for and whether they return to the author. But I didn't find it that clearly defined in the competitions conditions.


Can I ask:

So If in the terms of a some contest is written for example someting like

"haikus will be displayed on our homepage / release in the anthology."

or it is determined exactly what they will do with my poems (for example how you write it about the "Harold Henderson competition") BUT at the same time it is not written that

"the copyrights are returned to the authors after the competition (as it is in the conditions of the competition  "Kusamakura haiku contest " and "Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest" that you mention and where I don't see it written so clearly)" 

My last question is: Don't I have to worry and look for answers? Or do you always recommend writing to the responsible person / organizer of the competition?


I apologize if I ask questions that are clear. I'm the type of careful person. It is very important for me to have the copyright to my poems even after the competition. Money to win is a pleasure, but it is not important to me. My pleasure is to share haiku with people and be part of the haiku world. I don't write poems because of competition, but on the other hand, I'm competitive, so I want try it O:)

So thank you very much for help AND when I publish a book in the future, I will definitely send you a printout as a thank you.

Warm regards

Marko

[Marko.T]

Thanks again for the answer Alan!

I think its fine if a magazine or organization publishes one of the poems in the collection, in someone else's anthology, or if it publishes a haiku at a much later date (on book, website, printed or online magazine etc). I think that if the author still has the right to his poem, it can be helpfull (for him)

Personally, I have the same opinion that they can't claim ownership if you win prize money for the same reason - because it is not a pay a fee or commission the poet and author hasn´t been employed to write that poem. I am glad that this is not just my view on this issue.

Your answer helped me and reassured me a lot and gave me the confidence to take part in some competition. So I will try it O:)

Warmest regards and all the best days ☼

Marko

[sandra]

In case anyone reading this thread wonders, the contest listings that Alan has copied and pasted are from Haiku NewZ, where the Contest list is updated at least once a month.
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-competitions-publications/
Sandra Simpson, editor Haiku NewZ

[AlanSummers]

Sandra Simpson's Haiku NewZ:
A very fine resource and worth checking on a highly regular basis:
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-competitions-publications/

Also from Sandra Simpson at Haiku NewZ:
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-happenings/

In case anyone reading this thread wonders, the contest listings that Alan has copied and pasted are from Haiku NewZ, where the Contest list is updated at least once a month.
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-competitions-publications/
Sandra Simpson, editor Haiku NewZ

[Seaview (Marion Clarke)]

In case anyone reading this thread wonders, the contest listings that Alan has copied and pasted are from Haiku NewZ, where the Contest list is updated at least once a month.
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-competitions-publications/
Sandra Simpson, editor Haiku NewZ

Sandra, many apologies—it is I, not Alan, who has copied and pasted information on competitions that I’ve spotted on your website. I’m so sorry if this is not permitted. 🥺

Please pass my apologies on to anyone else concerned.

marion

[AlanSummers]

Hi Marion,

My bad, Sandra's source is so good, that we forget to state that.

It's an incredibly invaluable source and I know that our THF announcements also help Sandra compile anything that she might have missed, although that is rare!

warm regards,
Alan

In case anyone reading this thread wonders, the contest listings that Alan has copied and pasted are from Haiku NewZ, where the Contest list is updated at least once a month.
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-competitions-publications/
Sandra Simpson, editor Haiku NewZ

Sandra, many apologies—it is I, not Alan, who has copied and pasted information on competitions that I’ve spotted on your website. I’m so sorry if this is not permitted. 🥺

Please pass my apologies on to anyone else concerned.

marion

[sandra]

I don't mind anyone using them - in fact I'm pleased that people find them useful. Over time I have built up an extensive database of regular, reputable contests and also regularly search for new ones or one-off contests. So an acknowledgement of that time is always appreciated, is all. I'm certainly not claiming any 'rights' over the info, as it's all out there somewhere!

[sandra]

I should also have said that using them as you do Marion one by one and now and again is absolutely fine with me, no credit required as the info, as I said earlier, is all available somewhere. It was just seeing a chunk of the listings reproduced without credit gave me pause. And no disrespect to you either Alan as you're normally very conscientious with publication notes. All is good.

[Seaview (Marion Clarke)]

Thank you, Sandra. Noted. This is very gracious of you and the haiku community is extremely grateful for the research that you undertake in order to compile the list of international competitions and contests.

Btw I spotted your messages above just minutes after I’d posted a thank you for your info on the Katikati contest! 😄

All the best.

marion