A cartoon or caricature is drawn on a given theme within a set sitting, judged on wit, drawing technique and how quickly the idea reads.
Cartooning is a solo, off-stage art item for college and university entrants. Each entrant is given a theme and draws a cartoon or caricature on it: a single drawing that makes a point, raises a smile or exaggerates a recognisable feature. Nothing is performed on stage, so the finished sheet is the whole entry.
A round runs as a supervised sitting. Entrants are seated together, the theme is announced, and they draw within the time the festival sets, which is two to two and a half hours in most of the formats that carry it. Sheets are numbered rather than named before marking so the panel judges the work and not the maker. Pens, ink, markers or pencil colours are usually permitted, depending on the organiser’s rules.
What separates a cartoon from a straight drawing is the idea. A strong entry compresses a comment on the theme into one clear image, using exaggeration, a visual metaphor or a short caption, and keeps the line work confident enough that the point lands at a glance. A technically polished but literal picture usually scores below a sharper, simpler idea well drawn.
Organisers run it because it adds a topical, witty strand to the art section for the cost of paper, a room and an invigilator. Themes drawn from current affairs or campus life also give the item an audience beyond the entrants themselves.
Where Cartooning comes from
Cartooning grew out of the political and satirical caricature traditions of newspapers and magazines, where a single drawing carries an opinion. Festivals borrow that format and turn it into a timed, themed competition.
Where Cartooning is run
Cartooning appears in seven university youth festival templates in the dataset: a Kerala university festival, a Kerala university arts festival, a Mumbai university festival, a Punjab university zonal festival, two Punjab-region technical and university zonal festivals, and a Gujarat university zonal festival that offers it separately to three college groups. All run it as an individual item open to both genders, scored out of 100. Sitting length differs: 120 minutes in the two Kerala formats, 150 minutes in the Mumbai and two of the Punjab-region formats, and no fixed limit in the Gujarat format.
- India – Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra (university and college youth festivals)
Key facts
- Individual entry only: none of the templates that carry it has a team version.
- Off stage: the finished drawing is marked afterwards, not watched live.
- Open to both genders competing together; no language is fixed.
- Sitting length varies: 120 minutes in two Kerala formats, 150 minutes in three others, and no fixed limit in the Gujarat zonal format.
- Scored out of 100 in every template that carries it.
- Listed as ‘Cartoon’ in school and church-circuit templates; those are a separate catalogue item for younger entrants.
On eTalenter, Cartooning is filed under Art, Off Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 7 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Cartooning is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 10–150 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Cartooning
What a Cartooning panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The idea: a clear exaggeration, point of view or visual joke built around the set theme, not a literal picture of it.
- Drawing technique: confident line, proportion and shading suited to cartoon style rather than realism.
- Instant readability: whether the point lands at a glance without explanation.
- Originality of angle on a theme every entrant in the room received at the same moment.
- Caption or labelling, where used: short, sharp and adding to the image instead of repeating it.
- Finish and neatness: a complete, clean sheet when time is called.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Cartooning under Scoring Setup, or start from the full drawing & painting judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Cartooning
How entrants and their teachers usually get Cartooning right on the day:
- Practise turning plain subjects into cartoons by exaggerating one feature or adding a visual metaphor, not only drawing realistically.
- Collect ideas for likely themes in advance (campus life, current affairs, social issues) so you are not starting from blank when the theme is announced.
- Time yourself against the festival’s sitting length and plan how long you spend on idea, pencil sketch, inking and finishing.
- Sketch the composition lightly first and commit to ink only when the idea works; there is rarely time to restart.
- Keep the drawing simple enough to finish cleanly: one strong idea beats a crowded page.
- Check the rules on materials and caption use, and bring approved pens or markers that will not smudge.
Ready-made event templates that include Cartooning
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNDU Zonal Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 1 |
| Gujarat University Zonal Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 3 |
| Kerala University Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 1 |
| MG University Inter Collegiate Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 1 |
| University of Mumbai Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 1 |
| Panjab University Zonal Youth Festival (Punjab, India) | Off Stage | Marks | 1 |
| PTU Zonal Youth Festival | Art | Marks | 1 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Cartooning judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Cartooning the same as Cartoon?
They are separate entries in the catalogue. Cartooning is used by university youth festivals for college entrants; Cartoon appears in school and church-circuit templates and is kept for older school groups. An installed template carries only the one it lists.
How long does a Cartooning round last?
In the templates that carry it the sitting is 120 or 150 minutes, and one zonal format sets no fixed limit. Organisers can set their own.
Is Cartooning judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Each entrant draws and is scored on their own sheet.
Is a cartoon the same as a caricature?
Not quite. A caricature exaggerates a real person’s features, while a cartoon can comment on any theme. The catalogue description covers both, and the theme the organiser sets decides which the entrants draw.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full drawing & painting judging criteria guide, or browse every art competition item.
Try Cartooning in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Cartooning, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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