For Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s 101st birthday on June 11th (this Saturday), compose a short poem about the oceans and enter the Cousteau Divers Haiku Contest!

The winning poem will be engraved on a memorial plaque and taken to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea by Pierre-Yves Cousteau, Jacques’ youngest son, to celebrate the anniversary and the launch of Cousteau Divers. The three best poem-writers will also receive a special gift in the mail!

Your poem must be in the form of a haiku. A haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry in the form of three short verses each composed of five, seven and five syllables (5-7-5). For example:

I love the ocean (five syllables)
Holding me in its embrace (seven syllables)
Softly caressing (five syllables)

Although this is not exactly respectful of traditional haiku, we have simplified the rules.

Please note that you may only submit ONE poem per person for this contest.

Competition closed!

The 2011 contest is over and here are the winners!