The United Nations International School, the Northeast Council of Teachers of Japanese, and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations are proud to host the 2019 Student Haiku Contest.

Now in its eleventh year, the contest is open to students in grades 1 through 12 and, once again, their teachers. As in the past, poems written in English or in Japanese are eligible, and experienced judges will decide the winners in each of these two language categories.

In addition, the 2019 Student Haiku Contest is soliciting haiku written in other foreign languages. Demonstration categories are planned in Spanish, French, Italian and Arabic this year. Teachers who wish to enter their students’ work in these languages should follow contest regulations. Notable poems in these demonstration categories will be published on the school’s website in celebration of the expanded scope of this year’s contest.

Entries should reflect as much as possible a deeper understanding of the aesthetic principles of haiku instead of focusing only on the syllable count.

Applications are due by March 8, 2019. For more information please click here. Entrees can be submitted using this form.

Teams of UNIS Students participated in the LAMP's 2015 “Break the Trailer” event, creating mashups of hit movies such as Jurassic World, Annabelle, Pitch Perfect 2 and Minions as well as major franchises like Taken, Star Wars, Star Trek and the James Bond series.

Students met at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab for two workshop sessions, in which they explored the purpose of movie trailers, how they are constructed and how they have changed over time. The students then broke into pairs and created original movie trailers based on video clips. Read more on TheLamp.org.