Baltimore County Public Schools

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Announcing the 2026 Team BCPS Haiku Contest

The 2026 Team BCPS Haiku Contest will celebrate student writing, student art, and student voice. All BCPS students, from Kindergarten through Grade 12, are encouraged to enter. Students will be asked to write works inspired by a piece of student artwork selected from among 10 pieces.

At the end of the contest, three winners will be selected (one each at the elementary, middle, and high school levels) and awarded prizes. This year's contest will accept entries from 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 23, through 4:45 p.m. on Friday, March 6. Winners will be announced on Friday, April 17, International Haiku Day. Winners will receive a gift bag, including a $100 Amazon gift card, from The Education Foundation of BCPS, Inc., a prize from The Ivy Bookshop, and framed prints of their haiku and the artwork that inspired them.

In addition to the winning haiku, additional haiku, selected by the contest judges, will be used to compile an online book. Each school library will receive a print copy.

Haiku is a form of poetry that originated in Japan. A haiku consists of three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables, and the third line has five syllables. BCPS uses the How Many Syllables website to check syllable counts. Each student may enter only one haiku, and it must be an original poem. Haiku found to be plagiarized will be disqualified. Students are encouraged to be creative in their use of imagery and vocabulary.

Read the 2025 Team BCPS Haiku Book

The 2025 Team BCPS Haiku Contest celebrated student writing, student art, and student voice. All BCPS students, from Kindergarten through Grade 12, were encouraged to enter by writing works inspired by one of 10 pieces of student artwork. More than 1,500 entries were received from 85 schools, centers, and programs.

After a lengthy debate, a panel of judges selected the following contest winners:

• Samuel Olawale, Grade 5,  Lyons Mill Elementary School
• Payton Williams, Grade 8,  Dundalk Middle School
• Emily Zhou, Grade 12,  Dulaney High School

Read our news release about the winners and the contest.

The three winners of the 2025 contest each received a gift bag, including a $100 Amazon gift card, from The Education Foundation of BCPS Inc., and a book selected for them from The Ivy Bookshop. The winners also receive framed prints of their haiku and the artwork that inspired them.

Contest judges included 13 award-winning student writers and several staff members from the Office of English Language Arts and the Department of Communications and Community Outreach.

In addition to the winning haiku, an additional 150 haiku, selected by the contest judges, were used to compile an online book. Each school library will receive a print copy..

Read the 2024 Team BCPS Haiku Book

The 2024 Team BCPS Haiku Contest celebrated student writing, student art, and student voice. All BCPS students, from Kindergarten through Grade 12, were encouraged to write works inspired by a piece of student artwork selected from among 10 pieces. Nearly 1,800 entries were received from 111 schools, centers, and programs – including the Virtual Learning Program.

A panel of judges – including award-winning student writers and BCPS communications and English language arts staff – selected the following contest winners:

• Rowan Chipkin, Grade 4, Pinewood Elementary School
• Lilly Crittenden, Grade 6, Arbutus Middle School
• Jasmine Marquardt, Grade 12, Lansdowne High School

New this year, winners received a scholarship to participate in a summer asynchronous writing camp (June 24 – August 23), sponsored by the Maryland Writing Project at Towson University. Other prizes included a gift from The Charmery and The Ivy Bookshop and a framed poster of their haiku from BCPS.

Read our news release about the winners and the contest.

In addition to the winning haiku, an additional 99 haiku, selected by the contest judges, were used to compile an online book. Each school library will receive a print copy.

Read the 2023 Team BCPS Haiku Contest book

In this year’s haiku contest, for the first time, rather than challenging BCPS students to write haiku related to a word or concept, students were asked to write in response to a piece of student artwork selected from among 10 pieces. Nearly 2,200 entries were received from 111 schools, centers, and programs – including the Virtual Learning Program.

After a lengthy debate, a panel of judges selected the following contest winners:

• Elliana Cunnington, Grade 5, Sparks Elementary School
• Graham TerBeek, Grade 7, Dumbarton Middle School
• Paige Mathias, Grade 11, Eastern Technical High School

The three winners of the 2023 contest each received gifts from The Charmery and The Ivy Bookshop and a framed poster of their haiku from BCPS.

Contest judges included award-winning student writers and staff members from the Office of English Language Arts and the Department of Communications and Community Outreach.

In addition to the winning haiku, an additional 162 haiku were chosen by the judges to compile a book. Each school library will receive a print copy.

Read the 2022 Team BCPS Haiku Book!

In our sixth year of the contest, students submitted a record 2,445 entries from 111 schools, centers, and programs.

A panel of student and staff judges selected 134 poems for the book, including elementary and middle school winners and two high school winners:

• Juliet Wentzell, Grade 5, Mays Chapel Elementary School
• David Yuan, Grade 7, Ridgely Middle School
• Grace O’Neill, Grade 11, Hereford High School
• Yen Pan, Grade, 10 Catonsville High School

The book also includes beautiful student artwork. Each school library will receive a print copy of the book.

Read our news release about the winners and the contest.

Read the 2021 Team BCPS Haiku Book!

In our fifth year of the contest, students submitted 1,649 entries from 108 schools! We could not be more proud to achieve record-setting school participation during a pandemic. A panel of student and staff judges selected 193 poems for the book, including an elementary, middle, and high school winner:

• Aubrey Suljak, Grade 5, Jacksonville Elementary School
• Madilyn Senisse, Grade 8, Arbutus Middle School
• Noah Colosino, Grade 10, George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology

The book also includes beautiful student artwork. Each student artist and poet selected for the book will receive an online copy. Each school library will receive a print copy of the book.

Read our news release about the winners and the contest.

Read the 2020 Team BCPS Haiku Book

Despite the spring closure, the 2020 Team BCPS Haiku Contest received 1,446 entries from 99 schools and centers! Our theme was Hero, which gained new significance due to COVID-19. The contest runs each March as part of our We Are Team BCPS campaign.

A panel of student and staff judges selected 165 poems for the book, including an elementary, middle, and high school winner:

• Ella Navari, Grade 4, Prettyboy Elementary School
• Kiran Bhatia, Grade 7, Dumbarton Middle School
• Maggie Else, Grade 10, Dulaney High School

Student artwork that brought these poems to life was then selected for the book through the Office of Visual Arts. Each school library received a copy of the book.