Amicale

Congratulations to the three winners of the Amicale’s 2025 haiku competition! Our three winners received their prizes during a ceremony in the presence of Denis Huber, the Amicale’s President, and Ambassador UCHIDA Hiroyuki, Permanent Observer of Japan to the Council of Europe, and the Vice Consul, AOKI Miku.

Here are the winning haiku:

First Prize: Diana Lupu, Senior Lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights

Lightness of the air-

Whispers of a butterfly

Up again in the green.

Second Prize: Cristina Milagre, Policy Advisor in the Steering Committee on Anti-discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion.

Les arbres tiennent

La nudité des branches

L’écureuil sautille

Third Prize: Anaïs Delahayes, Deputy Archivist at the Council of Europe

Dent juste éclose,

Grain de sucre sur gencive rose.

Tu grandis si vite.

Our three winning haiku poets received prizes donated by the Consulate-General of Japan, and by the Council’s Japanese painting teacher, Manda.

Thanks for the organization of this competition go to the Japanese section of the Amicale in collaboration with the Poetry Club of the Amicale.

A PDF publication of all haikus submitted this year will be published online in the autumn and a print version specially illustrated by colleagues learning Japanese painting will be gifted to everyone who entered the competition.

A new competition will be launched on 11 February 2026 to celebrate the Japanese National Foundation Day.