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2026 Sejong Writing Competition

Sijo Winners

	Adult Division	Pre-college Division
First Place	Lauren Ruth Wiener Port Townsend, WA sijo	Lucas Pai New York, NY Baruch College Campus HS (Rita Ross) sijo
Second Place	Emily Rose Raboy Placeville, CA sijo	Jean-Mann Miguel Arago Chicago, IL William Howard Taft HS (Lucy Luna) sijo
Third Place	Michael Williams Acworth, GA sijo	Solomon Kalusche Hartland, WI Arrowhead Union HS (Terri Carnell) sijo
Honorable Mention*	Hollie Dickson Jeannette, PA sijo Kenny Likis Cambridge, MA sijo Elizabeth Shack Urbana, IL sijo	Bavly Beshai Bayonne, NJ Bayonne HS (Jennie David) sijo Lilly Do New York, NY Hunter College HS (Olivia Byun) sijo Zia Dolland Clarksville, MD The Bryn Mawr School (Sierra Duckworth) sijo Ariana Dominguez Bayonne, NJ Bayonne HS (Jennie David) sijo Zoey Green Baltimore, MD The Bryn Mawr School (Katie Walsh) sijo Claire Park Flower Mound, TX Flower Mound HS (Ji Nang Kim) sijo

*Honorable Mention

( ) Teacher's name

 

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A dyed-in-the-wool Taoist, this part-time poetaster is a longtime admirer of Basho’s haiku. So, it’s only natural—thanks to my former-English-teacher mother, who introduced me to the form (and whom I’ll get to see ‘for free’ later this year, thanks to this greatly appreciated prize ¹)—that I’d feel an affinity for what could be considered the kindred (yet elder ;- ) form of economical expression we call sijo.

Regarding the innocent sijo I submitted—and, indeed, it might best be read as such—it’s also an admittedly subtle meditation on today’s national political climate: one that’s not only a struggle-as-usual, but that seems all too often painfully at loggerheads and verbally abusive.² This little sijo also proposes an antidote: kindness, perhaps best expressed as appreciation. Additionally, it could be read as an ars poetica; its central thesis is the heart of all poetry and sijo quite obviously: that “words matter.”

That’s quite a bit to attempt in approximately 45 syllables, but we believe the intrepid sijo is a sturdy yet flexible form that can handle it.

Phun phakt: Contrary to the characters of the poem, we haven't any children;³ so, that aspect of the sijo’s scenario is purely imaginary. Enjoy.

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Hi! My name is Hollie, I am an aspiring poet and children’s author from Jeannette, Pennsylvania. I have always enjoyed writing, seeing it as a way of dealing with big emotions, but have never had any formal training. My educational background is actually in mental health. I graduated from Shippensburg University with a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

I have been blessed to have had some pieces published. I have written a collection of poetry entitled “The She Inside of Me” that was published in 2023, as well as co-authoring a series of children’s stories entitled “The Benny Chronicles.” Benny was a very loved rabbit who lived such a grand life that his owners had to keep his memory alive by sharing all his nonsensical adventures (loosely inspired by true events.) “The Benny Chronicles” have recently been re-released with new art as four individual stories, the first in the series is entitled “Benny King of The Rabbits.” While my work has been available on Amazon for some time, I have not started marketing them until about three months ago.

As of recent, I have had my poem “A Smile That Lights Up A Room” be published in The Blot magazine, my poem “Waves” published in the Haiku Shack magazine Volume 6, and my poem “Eye of the storm” was selected to be included in the 2026 Eastern Pennsylvania Bards Poetry Review.

I heard about the Sijo writing competition after starting a writer facebook page and searching for writing groups and competitions to join. I had never heard of Sijo before encountering the competition but I felt instantly drawn to its complex writing style. Driven by a desire to challenge myself to try something new I researched how to write a sijo. After reading some examples I decided to try it out. I am both shocked and grateful to have my work recognized. I am excited to see where my writing journey takes me next and who I may encounter along the way.

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I found sijo and the Sejong Writing Competition a few years ago. Since I was writing poetry, and had started learning Korean for fun, I searched for Korean poetry forms. Sijo attracted me because of its deceptive simplicity, the surprise in the beginning of the third (or fifth) line, and the depth of feeling that the poems evoke.

When I write formal verse, the form becomes a kind of co-author because the restrictions on line length, meter, or rhyme guide the words and phrases I use. That often sends the poem in an unexpected direction. In fact, in this sijo, the last line is almost the opposite of what I started out trying to say. Those contradictions help me think more deeply about things, and hopefully make the poem more interesting.

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My name is Lucas Pai, and I am currently a junior at Baruch College Campus High School in New York City, New York. I aspire to pursue my fascinations in the business world, while continuing to further explore my passions in creative writing.

Discovering this competition was something that I found through social media, as I was actively searching to express myself in a way where I could be the one who decides the narrative of the story. This sijo competition stuck out to me immediately and I knew that from the moment I opened the website, this was where I wanted to share my story. The contrast between the limitless amount of topics to talk about, paired up with the steep restrictions of having to condense it all in a handful of syllables, made it important that every single word had a purpose.

I decided to write my sijo behind what is widely considered the most iconic puzzle in the world, the Rubik’s cube. With so much mystery and complexity behind it, it’s so easy to become overwhelmed with the fear of not being good enough. But through the Rubik’s cube, it helped me discover a passion for something that I’ve grown to love over the years, while also reminding me that difficult does not equate to impossible.

Through writing my sijo, I developed a deeper understanding of the lyrical aspect of writing, as well as how important word choice is. While I had so much I wanted to discuss, the difficulty in constructing a whole compelling story within 3 short lines really emphasized the idea of less is more, and I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn so much through the writing process.

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My name is Solomon Kalusche from a small little place called Hartland.

My teacher, Mrs. Carnell introduced me to sijos and this competition and it really interested me because it was such a unique was of expressing your feelings through writing.

My inspiration was just how I was feeling about current situations and the anger I was dealing with. It was really about me conveying my emotions onto a written form.

Through sijos I learned an interesting new way to express myself and deal with my emotions.

 

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I am currently a sophomore student attending Flower Mound Highschool, and first learned about the Sejong Writing Competition thanks to my mom.

Personally, I was immediately taken back by the beauty of an orchid mantis, which inspired me to write a sijo about it. During the writing process, I learned about its beautiful and deceptive nature as, though being appealing and in a way, innocent, it's true nature is hidden—shown by how their spikes are hidden beneath petal-like arms.

From this, I wanted to express the orchid mantis' distinctive nature by compressing it into a short, 3 lined poem that was just enough to get my message across.

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