Touchstone Awards

Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards for 2020

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 2020. The seventy-two 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 three award winners and four honorable mentions.
 
The Touchstone Shortlist included outstanding volumes of haiku, haibun and/or 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 — Beverly Acuff Momoi, Patricia Machmiller,  Scott Mason, Victor Ortiz and Michael Rehling — 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.

We extend our congratulations to the following authors and publishers (books are arranged in alphabetical order by author):

Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Winners for 2020

Antolin, Susan. The Years That Went Missing (Durham NC: Backbone Press, 2020).

m., paul. witness tree (Omskirk UK: Snapshot Press, 2020).

Nyitrai, Réka. While Dreaming Your Dreams (Valencia Spain: Mono Ya Mono Books, 2020).

Honorable Mentions

Ashraf, Hifsa. Her Fading Henna Tattoo (Wilmington DE: Human/Kind Press, 2020).

Gurga, Lee. Without Syntax (White Heath IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2020).

Kadric, Elmedin. light packing (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Kelly, David J. Small Hadron Divider (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award 2020 Shortlist

Antolin, Susan. The Years That Went Missing (Durham NC: Backbone Press, 2020).

Ashraf, Hifsa. Her Fading Henna Tattoo (Wilmington DE: Human/Kind Press, 2020).

Bridges Alan S. in the curves (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Codrescu, Ion. The Wanderer Brush (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Fabre, Gilles. Along the Way: A Search for the Spirit of the World (Uxbridge UK: Alba Publishing, 2020).

French, Terri L. Fully Human (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2020).

Gurga, Lee. Without Syntax (White Heath IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2020).

Gurga, Lee and Metz, Scott. Haiku 2020 (White Heath IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2020).

Hall, Carolyn. cricket dusk (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Kadric, Elmedin. light packing (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Kelly, David J. Small Hadron Divider (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

m., paul. witness tree (Omskirk UK: Snapshot Press, 2020).

Nyitrai, Réka. While Dreaming Your Dreams (Valencia Spain: Mono Ya Mono Books, 2020).

Owen, Renee. This One Life (Durham NC: Backbone Press, 2020).

Polette, Keith. pilgrimage (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2020).

Purington, Carol. Farm Song (Colrain MA: Winfred Press, 2020).

Strange, Debbie. Prairie Interlude (Omskirk UK: Snapshot Press, 2020).

Bruce H. Feingold
Chair, Touchstone Awards Committee
The Haiku Foundation

This Post Has 7 Comments

  2. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors and those with further accolades. Effusive thanks to the judges for their tireless work in whittling down the 72 collections to the short list and the subsequent awards. If any shortlisted authors are interested in a book swap, please get in touch.

  4. Mubarak (Congratulations) to all. A great honour for me to see my name alongside some great haiku writers.

    Thank you so much esteemed judges and Touchstone Distinguished Books awards management team.

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