Short Story Performance Competition: What It Is, Where It's Run and How It's Judged

A team storytelling item in the Literature section of the Folk Presentations part of a Trinidad and Tobago village competition, where a community group performs a short story aloud and is scored out of 100.

Short Story Performance is the first of the Literature items in the Folk Presentations part of a national village competition in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a spoken, staged retelling of a short story rather than a written piece: the audience hears the tale, sees it acted out in voice and gesture, and the panel marks the telling.

In eTalenter the item is one open team group, mixed gender, any language, marked out of 100. The template prints no time limit and no team size, so a group should confirm with the organiser how long the performance may run, how many tellers may take part and whether a narrator may be supported by others on stage before it fixes the script.

The panel marks seven heads: Content 30 (folk traditions and culture, theme, story and plot, appropriate language), Articulation 20 (fluidity and rhythm of speech, clarity), Presentation 20 (delivery, interpretation, rhythm and flow, characterisation), Use of voice 10, Use of body 10, Costuming and props 5 and Impact 5. Nearly half the marks therefore go to what the story is and how clearly it is spoken, and only a small share to dressing the stage.

Organisers run it as its own item so that groups with strong tellers have a place beside the dance, music and drama categories. It rewards communities who keep their own tales alive and can tell them well to a hall full of listeners.

Where Short Story Performance is run

In eTalenter's data this item appears in one template: the Literature part of the Folk Presentations section of a national village competition in Trinidad and Tobago, listed first among the literature items ahead of Poetry Spoken Word. This page makes no claim that it is judged the same way anywhere else.

• Trinidad and Tobago

Key facts

• Team entry by a village or community group; the template does not print a number of performers.
• Marked out of 100: Content 30, Articulation 20, Presentation 20, Use of voice 10, Use of body 10, Costuming and props 5, Impact 5.
• The template prints no time limit; language is any. Confirm the time limit with the organiser.
• It is a performance of a story, not a reading of a written entry, so memory and delivery matter as much as the plot.
• Idea starters, not rules: a village tale handed down by elders, told by two voices who swap the narrator role; a local legend of a river or hill with simple sound effects made by the tellers; a humorous story about a market day, told with accents and gestures.

On eTalenter, Short Story Performance is filed under Literary 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, Short Story Performance is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100.

What judges look at in Short Story Performance

What a Short Story Performance panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Content (30): folk traditions and culture, theme, story and plot, appropriate language. A story with a clear beginning, build and ending, rooted in local tradition, earns marks; a rambling tale or unsuitable language loses them.
• Articulation (20): fluidity and rhythm of speech, clarity of speech. Words the back row can understand, at a steady pace with natural rhythm, score; mumbling, rushing or tripping over lines costs marks.
• Presentation (20): delivery, interpretation, rhythm and flow, characterisation. Tellers who give each character a recognisable voice and keep the story moving earn marks; a flat, one-tone recital loses them.
• Use of voice (10): projection and fluid delivery. Volume that fills the space without shouting, and changes of tone that follow the story, score here.
• Use of body (10): expressions and gestures, body language. Gestures that support the words earn marks; stiff stances or distracting fidgeting lose them.
• Costuming and props (5) and Impact (5) are small. Simple, relevant dress and a finish that leaves the audience with the point of the story are enough; heavy props cannot make up for weak content or speech.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Short Story Performance under Scoring Setup, or start from how judge scoring and tabulation software works.

How to prepare for Short Story Performance

How entrants and their teachers usually get Short Story Performance right on the day:

• Ask the organiser for the time limit, the number of tellers allowed and any rules on language before choosing the story.
• Choose a short tale with a clear shape and a strong ending, and cut anything that does not move it forward.
• Learn the story rather than the exact words, then fix the lines that matter most so that every teller delivers them the same way.
• If there is more than one teller, decide who voices each character and mark the hand-overs so nobody speaks over another.
• Practise projection in a large room, with someone at the far end calling out any word they cannot hear.
• Add gestures last, once the words are secure, and keep only those that help the listener follow the story.
• Choose simple costume and props that suit the tale; they carry only five marks, so spend rehearsal time on speech and content.
• Time a full run-through and trim to the limit, leaving a few seconds of margin.
• Record a rehearsal and score it yourselves on the seven heads; after a loss, work first on the lowest-scoring one.

Frequently asked questions

Is Short Story Performance 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 Short Story Performance judged as a team?

Yes. In eTalenter it is a team item, marked out of 100, with one mark sheet for the group. Check with the organiser how many performers may take part.

How is Short Story Performance marked?

Out of 100: Content 30, Articulation 20, Presentation 20, Use of voice 10, Use of body 10, Costuming and props 5 and Impact 5.

How long can the performance be?

The template prints no time limit, so confirm it with the organiser before rehearsing.

Can the story be told in any language?

The template lists language as any. The content head refers to appropriate language, so keep the wording suitable for a family audience and confirm any language rules with the organiser.

Want the full judging picture? Read how judge scoring and tabulation software works, or browse every literary competition item.

Try Short Story Performance in eTalenter

See every ready-made template that runs Short Story Performance, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.

See where Short Story Performance is used