A team presents a selected piece of drama to an adjudicator in the Junior and Senior classes of a Channel Islands English speech and drama festival, with a generous per-head time allowance.
A dramatic selection is a chosen piece of drama, performed as a short, self-contained presentation rather than a full play. The team picks a passage or sequence, rehearses it until it stands alone, and plays it to an adjudicator who watches for how well the performers bring the material to life. Because the audience meets the piece cold, the opening needs to set up who the characters are and what is at stake within a few lines.
On the one eTalenter template that carries it, a Channel Islands English speech and drama festival, Dramatic Selection is a Team item for boys and girls together, in English, offered in the Junior (6 to 12) and Senior (13 to 17) bands. The template gives it a limit of 25 minutes, timed per head, and a nominal ten-point scale. The template does not record what kinds of material are permitted, how many performers a team needs, or whether the piece must be published or may be devised, so organisers should state those rules in their own entry notice and entrants should read them before choosing a piece.
A good round has a shape: a clear opening, one or two developed moments and a deliberate ending. Teams that try to cram a whole play into the time usually lose the audience, while teams that choose one strong stretch and play it truthfully tend to be remembered. Staging is normally plain, with a few chairs, a prop or a costume piece, so the acting carries the performance.
Organisers run it because it gives school and youth drama groups a middle option between a short sketch and a full one act play, and because it rewards choice of material as well as performance. It is easy to place in a drama session next to the one act play, duologue and devised classes.
Where Dramatic Selection is run
On the eTalenter templates this item appears in one: an English speech and drama festival in the Channel Islands. Team presentations of chosen dramatic extracts also appear in school drama days, youth theatre festivals and competitive festivals elsewhere under names such as scenes, extracts or drama selections, but the rules differ from event to event.
- Channel Islands
Key facts
- Team item for boys and girls together, offered in English
- Offered in Junior (6 to 12) and Senior (13 to 17); Adult is not assigned on this template
- The template time limit is 25 minutes, counted per head
- Scored on a nominal ten-point scale; the team receives one result
- Idea: one tense kitchen-table scene from a family drama, played with three chairs and no scenery (an idea, not a rule)
- Idea: a comic courtroom sequence where every witness contradicts the last (an idea, not a rule)
- Idea: the turning point of a classic adventure story, told by a small ensemble (an idea, not a rule)
On eTalenter, Dramatic Selection is filed under Action and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Dramatic Selection is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to around 25 minutes where a limit is set.
How it is scored
The scoring method the templates attach to this item, and what that scale means.
- Best score is
- the highest
- Decimal places
- 2
- Used for
- Arts
Where it sits
The category this competition is filed under when a template is installed.
Others in this category: Drama, Skit, Mime, Monoact, Mimicry, Stand-up Comedy, Role Play, Tableau
Judging criteria installed for it
eTalenter matches an item to its criteria on the words in its name, and creates exactly these when the template is installed.
No criteria match this name, so none are created automatically — judges score it on the event’s own criteria instead.
What judges look at in Dramatic Selection
What a Dramatic Selection panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Choice of material: a piece that suits the age and ability of the cast and gives every performer something real to play
- Characterisation: voices, posture and reactions that stay consistent and clearly differ from one character to the next
- Clarity and projection: every line can be heard and understood, with pace and pauses that let the meaning land
- Ensemble interplay: performers who listen and respond to each other rather than waiting for their own lines
- Shape and staging: a clear opening, a developed middle and a deliberate ending, with simple, purposeful movement
- Time discipline: the piece fits the limit without rushing the ending or padding the start
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Dramatic Selection under Scoring Setup, or start from how judge scoring and tabulation works in eTalenter.
How to prepare for Dramatic Selection
How entrants and their teachers usually get Dramatic Selection right on the day:
- Choose a passage that can stand alone and that every cast member can play with conviction, rather than the longest or most famous one
- Read the entry notice first for rules on published or devised material, cast size and cuts before committing to a piece
- Give each performer a short note on who their character is, what they want and how they feel about the others
- Rehearse with a stopwatch and mark a point where the piece can be trimmed if the room or the nerves slow it down
- Practise entrances, exits and furniture moves so the set-up takes seconds and the acting starts straight away
- Run it for a friendly audience at least once, and ask what they understood, not whether they liked it
- After the adjudicator speaks, write the comments down at once and use them to plan the next rehearsal
Events that run this (1)
Ready-made templates that already include this competition. Installing one sets it up for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dramatic Selection judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is a dramatic selection the same as a one act play?
No. A one act play is a complete short play, while a dramatic selection is a chosen extract or sequence presented as a self-contained piece. They are separate classes on the same template.
How long can the piece run?
The template carries a limit of 25 minutes, timed per head, for both Junior and Senior. Always use the limit in the entry notice of the event you are actually entering.
Can we write our own piece?
The template does not say whether the material must be published or may be devised. There is a separate Devised Work class on the same template, so check the rules of your own event before choosing.
How many performers are allowed?
eTalenter does not model team size and the template records none, so follow the minimum and maximum in your event notice.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
It is a Team item, so the group receives a single result, though each member needs to play their part well.
Similar competitions
Items whose names share a word with this one — usually the same discipline in another form.
Want the full judging picture? Read how judge scoring and tabulation works in eTalenter, or browse every action competition item.
Try Dramatic Selection in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Dramatic Selection, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
