After receiving more than 500 entries last year, the Washington State Department of Transportation is bringing back their popular haiku contest to find a cover for the 2019 summer sailing schedule.

Calling all poets and creative writers! It’s time to put your thinking caps on because the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is bringing back their haiku contest.

“We have been doing photo and drawing contests for our covers for several years and last year, we wanted something different and more off the wall,” WSDOT spokesperson Justin Fujioka said.

Fujioka said last year’s contest was a success with more than 500 entries.

Contest

Poems must be a traditional haiku (5-7-5 syllables) about an experience you've had on a Washington state ferry. The winning poem will be featured on the cover of the 2019 summer sailing schedule.

Still not sure about haikus? Here are our two attemps:

Nautical beauty

It’s ferry haiku season

Enter on Twitter

Excitement is found

Haiku season is around

Go sail Puget Sound

Think you're ready to enter? It's simple:

First, you'll need to be following @wsferries on Twitter – if you don’t have a Twitter account, click here to set one up. Tweet your haiku using the hashtag #WSFHaiku up until March 8 at noon.

A panel of judges will comb through the entries and select up the top 25 poems. Of those, three finalists will be chosen based on creativity, originality, content, and writing.

On March 18 at noon, the three finalists’ poems will be posted on the @wsferries Twitter page. The haiku with the most likes by noon on March 22 will be named the winner.

The winner will work with WSDOT to find a photo as a background for their haiku on the 2019 summer sailing schedule.