Past Winners and Judges’ Comments
Some of the best reading offered in tanka literature is almost a genre in itself—contest winners’ poems and judges’ comments. Not only do these results present the reader with inspiring poems but also enlightened analysis, a combination of example and interpretation that offers new insights or, at the least, reaffirms insights already gained, sometimes with varying and surprising points of view. We are pleased to present the results of all TSA tanka contests since the inception of the Tanka Society of America in 2000, most recent first, plus videos showcasing winners for all years from 2019 onward. In 2015, the society renamed its contest after tanka pioneer, scholar, translator, and poet Sanford Goldstein, who died in 2023.
2024 — Reid Hepworth and Vandana Parashar, Judges
2023 — an’ya and Debbie Strange, Judges
2022 — Kathy Kituai and David Terelinck, Judges
2021 — Autumn Noelle Hall and Don Miller, Judges
2020 — Margaret Dornaus and Claire Everett, Judges
2019 — Michelle Brock and Hazel Hall, Judges
2018 — Jessica Malone Latham and Neal Whitman, Judges
2017 — James Chessing and Janet Lynn Davis, Judges
2016 — Amelia Fielden and M. Kei, Judges
2015 — Carole MacRury and Laura Maffei, Judges
2014 — Susan Constable and Michele L. Harvey, Judges
2013 — William Hart and Marian Olson, Judges
2012 — Peggy Heinrich and J. Zimmerman, Judges
2011 — Hortensia Anderson and David Bachelor, Judges
2010 — Tom Clausen and Jeanne Emrich, Judges
2009 — John Barlow and Pamela Miller Ness, Judges
2008 — Michael McClintock and Johnye Strickland, Judges
2007 — Marjorie A. Buettner and Denis M. Garrison, Judges
2006 — Dave Bacharach and Thelma Mariano, Judges
2005 — Margaret Chula and Larry Kimmel, Judges
2004 — Jeanne Emrich and Michael McClintock, Judges
2003 — Marianne Bluger and Tom Clausen, Judges
2002 — Pamela Miller Ness and Linda Jeannette Ward, Judges
2001 — Cherie Hunter Day and Paul O. Williams, Judges
2000 — Naomi Y. Brown and David Rice, Judges
