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Gurga
wins first place in haiku contest
The
winning haiku at the 2000 Midwest Buddhist Temple Ginza Festival
Haiku Contest have been reported by the judges, Joseph Kirschner
and Charles Trumbull. Working independently, each judge reviewed
all 72 entries blind — that is, not seeing the names of the
authors — and made his selection of the top haiku. They then met
on Wednesday, Aug. 23, and to discuss the many fine entries,
debate favorites and select the final list of winners. Lee Gurga
of Lincoln won first place in the general category.
This
is his winning entry:
Blackberry
picking —
the
touch of the setting sun
on
my unshaved cheek
This
verse, the judges felt, has everything a classic haiku needs: a
specific reference to the season (blackberry picking); two images
(in this case, one from nature, one from the world of humans) set
together in a way that resonate with each other (the brambly
blackberry bushes played against the roughness of the poet’s
unshaved cheek), and an appropriate touch of emotion (the
nostalgia of blackberry picking in the wistful light of the
setting sun). A textbook haiku!
Lee
Gurga, Illinois’ most prominent haiku poet, is associate editor
of the journal Modern Haiku and past president of the Haiku
Society of America.
With
his winning entry, Gurga took first-place honors at the contest
for the second year in a row.
For
information about another haiku contest, click
here.
For
a February article about Gurga, click below:
http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/020100/features/artsbook.htm
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The
26th annual Student Laureate award ceremony was in Springfield on
Saturday, Oct. 28. Winners are selected by top administrators of
their schools on the basis of academic success, extracurricular
activities and contributions to their school.