Blue Haiku

The Prompt

In order to qualify as a haiku, your submission must meet the following requirements:

• There must be 3 lines.
• There must be 17 syllables.
• The first line should be 5 syllables, the second line should be 7 syllables, and the third line should be 5 syllables.
• It must be submitted to the Poets community.

For this challenge, we would like you to write a haiku about something that is the color blue. Blue is all around us. From the sky to the sea to a blueberry, blue is a primary color found throughout nature. Blue symbolizes harmony, tranquility, creativity, loyalty, and sometimes sadness.

Historically, haiku writers have used this poetry format to express emotions felt when communing with nature. A masterful Blue Haiku will evoke an emotion in their poem about something blue.

We look forward to reading your unique takes on the challenge. Check out this resource from the extremely popular High-ku Challenge for some advice from the judges on writing an impactful haiku.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $1,000
• Second Place: $250
• 10 Runners-Up: $25

For your poem to be eligible, it must be 3 lines and 17 syllables and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Poems published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until December 16, 2023, at 11:59 PM ET will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Blue Haiku Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these countries will not be eligible to win.