This crazy winter,
people and emotions caged,
share them. set them free.
Anonymous Haiku on the topic of 2020
The EUI Haiku competition is back with a second edition : EUI Haiku 2022! We are looking forward to reading many new Haiku. Have fun, and send in as many entries as you wish!
This winter the EUI Centre for Academic Literacies and Languages (CALL) invites you, as a member of the EUI community, to share your emotions and thoughts in a creative way… by writing a haiku.
What is haiku? A haiku is a type of short poetry originally from Japan. It consists of three phrases that contain seventeen syllables: the first phrase contains five syllables, the second phrase – seven, and the final phrase – five syllables. You can learn more about haiku at
Poets.org and see a similar competition at the Law and Humanities blog
Hedgehogs and Foxes.
Why participate?
Despite living through unprecedented times of social and physical distancing, the EUI community is finding many ways of remaining strong together. We have more freedom to move this year, but the 2021 winter break will again be a quiet one at the EUI. If you wish to bring joy to the community by letting your creative juices flow during these long dark days inside, the haiku competition is for you.
- Not only will you create joy, but you will develop essential skills. Writing a poem is challenging. Writing a short poem with a strictly defined structure is even more challenging. Playing with words, fitting them into a very precise format, expressing one’s thoughts in a concise form are excellent transferable skills to develop.
- Not only will you develop essential skills, but you will have the thrill of seeing yourself in print.
- Not only will you have the satisfaction of creating art, but if you win one of the categories, you may also imagine yourself sipping warming premium tea this winter as you read the wonderful haiku written by the EUI community.
Who can participate?
The whole EUI community is warmly invited to participate in this competition. If you are the partner or child of an EUI member, you must use your partner's or your parent's EUI email to participate.
We hope that everyone will join us on this creative adventure!
Please note that if you are not a member of the EUI community, your haiku cannot be included in the competition.
How can I participate?
Your haiku may be serious or sad, it may be funny or ironic, it may be soothing or stimulating.
It may be anything you like, provided it is your original work and meets the following criteria.
Your haiku is on one of three topics:
- your EUI experience
- life in Italy
- world affairs
Multiple submissions are welcome. Include as many haiku on one form as you like. If you have already submitted a haiku, but want to submit another one (or ten), you may find the system doesn't allow you to do so. In this case, send us your haiku to [email protected].
Your haiku meets the following criteria:
1. A haiku is structured in three lines:
- Line 1 : 5 syllables
- Line 2 : 7 syllables
- Line 3 : 5 syllables
The Poetry Foundation's definition of SYLLABLE:
- "A single unit of speech sound as written or spoken; specifically, a vowel preceded by zero to three consonants (“awl,” “bring,” “strand”), and followed by zero to four consonants (“too,” “brag,” “gloss,” “stings,” “sixths”)."
2. Your haiku complies with the EUI Code of Ethics, especially the principles of respect and responsibility.
3. Your haiku can be submitted in any language. If, however, it is not in English, you must provide a translation. The translation does not have to respect the structure of the haiku, although of course if it does, then that would be great!
4. You must use an EUI email. If you are a partner or son/daughter with no EUI email, you must indicate your partner's/parent's email, indicating your relationship to the EUI member. You may include your own in the alternative email box below.
What happens after the submission?
After the deadline the Organizing Committee will anonymize haikus and send them to the Jury for evaluation. The Jury will meet and select one best haiku for each category on perceived beauty and authenticity.
All the haikus that respect the mentioned criteria will be published online.
The winner of each category receives a prize: a 50 euro voucher you can use to buy tea, green, black, with or without jasmine....
The winners will be announced in February 2022.
The Jury consists of five people chosen from across the EUI community:
- one faculty member
- two PhD researchers
- one postdoctoral fellow
- one staff member
All four departments are represented, and five different nationalities.
Page last updated on 17 May 2023