THE HERON’S NEST READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
VOLUME VII — 2005
My corner of The Heron’s Nest has been exceedingly active since the
beginning of December. That’s when, responding to our invitation to
participate in the annual Readers’ Choice Awards (formerly Valentine
Awards) many Nest readers began to send me votes for their ten favorite
poems in Volume VII 2005. On January 15 the voting ended. By then it
was clear which poems and poets were being hailed as outstanding.
This will be the first year that the awards issue will not appear, in
its totality, as a separate issue of The Heron’s Nest at our web site.
There’s simply too much work involved now for us volunteers to make
that happen. Instead, we are revealing the winning poems and poets
below. The complete awards issue, including poems, commentary, special
mentions, and readers’ comments will appear as part of the upcoming
hardcopy edition of The Heron’s Nest, our first annual paper edition.
It is now in the midst of being prepared for publication. We anticipate
mailing copies to those who have subscribed at the beginning of April. For
ordering information, please navigate
here.
And now for the results of your voting!
I am intrigued that readers elected the very same poems that last year
we editors chose to receive The Heron’s Nest awards. I’m also rather
puzzled that the elected poems placed sequentially, and in the same
order as the issues in which they appeared. Intrigued, puzzled — yes.
I’m also delighted. Generally speaking, it appears that Heron’s Nest
readers and editors are navigating the stream of haiku evolution
together. Sometimes the way seems obvious; at other times we find
ourselves groping. Happily, we are on the journey together.
With knees hinging in reverse, a deep heron bow to the winners, to
the voters, and to the spirit of haiku!
Christopher Herold
Managing Editor
* * * * * * * * * *
FAVORITE POEMS
* To give you a feel for how well the winners did, the average point
total for a poem receiving at least one vote was 12.
GRAND PRIZE (120 points)
so suddenly winter
baby teeth at the bottom
of the button jar
— Carolyn
Hall
FIRST RUNNER-UP (94 points)
glowing embers
I tell her a story
she already knows
— Rick Tarquinio
SECOND RUNNER-UP (75 points)
unemployed
the uneven edge
of a quahog shell
— paul m.
THIRD RUNNER-UP (58 points)
country graveyard
a hummingbird
she would’ve loved
— Darrell Lindsey
* * * * * *
POPULAR POETS
* This category comes as the result of totaling the number of votes
awarded each poet for their entire body of work in Volume VII. The
most poems allowable in The Nest each year is eight. Obviously, the
more poems one has published in The Nest the better the chances of
garnering votes. Hence, one’s success throughout a given year has a
bearing on year-end voting. To give you an idea of the range of scores, the
average total points for combined works was 24.
GRAND PRIZE
Carolyn Hall (5 of 7 poems received votes - total = 163 points)
FIRST RUNNER-UP
paul m. (6 of 7 poems received votes - total = 141 points)
SECOND RUNNER-UP (a tie)
John Stevenson (8 of 8 poems received votes - total = 135 points)
Rick Tarquinio (4 of 6 poems received votes - total = 135 points)
THIRD RUNNER-UP
Yu Chang (4 of 4 poems received votes - total = 93 points)
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