LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A Grade 3 contest in which a child tells the story in a wordless picture sequence aloud in Filipino within five minutes, marked out of 100 for grasp of the story, use of voice and stage performance.

LikhaWento is a wordless story retelling. There is no text to read back: the child looks at a story told in pictures and puts it into spoken words, making clear who is in it, what happens and how it ends. In the template it is a Grade 3 item, so it belongs to the early-primary stage of a Philippine learner festival, where children are still learning to turn what they see into connected speech.

Each child enters on their own, boys and girls together, and tells the story in Filipino. A round is capped at five minutes, with a warning at four minutes thirty seconds. The template does not print how the pictures are shown or how long the child may look at them first, so check the organiser brief before the day rather than assuming a format.

The 100 marks are split three ways. Half, 50, go to knowledge and understanding of the story: the important details, the story elements and how well the telling fits the pictures. Use of voice carries 30, covering the right tone, volume and expression. Stage performance carries the last 20: confidence, expression and finishing within the time.

Organisers run it because it tests observation and oral language together, with no writing. Because the pictures carry no words, every sentence is the child’s own, so the contest shows how well a child reads a sequence, links events and holds a listener, skills that later support reading comprehension and written narrative.

Where LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) is run

In the data this item belongs to one template, a Philippine government-run learner festival held at division, regional and national levels. Telling a story from a wordless picture sequence is also a common literacy and language-development activity in classrooms elsewhere, though competition rules differ from event to event.

• Philippines

Key facts

• Individual entry, open to boys and girls alike.
• Grade 3 only; the template maps this to ages 7 to 8, but entry is by grade level, not age.
• Told in Filipino.
• Marked out of 100: knowledge of the story 50, use of voice 30, stage performance 20.
• Five-minute limit, with a warning at four minutes thirty seconds.
• Ideas (not rules) for practice: a four-to-six-picture sequence of a simple event such as a market trip, a rainy day or a lost pet found.

On eTalenter, LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) is filed under Literacy 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, LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling)

What a LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Knowledge and understanding of the story, 50 marks: the important details and story elements (characters, setting, problem, ending) and a telling that fits what the pictures actually show; inventing events the pictures do not support loses marks here.
• Use of voice, 30 marks: the right tone for each moment, volume that reaches the back of the room and expression that rises and falls with the action rather than one flat run of words.
• Stage performance, 20 marks: confidence, expression, and finishing inside the five minutes; a child cut off mid-ending gives away marks that were already earned.
• Because half the marks reward the story, a clear and accurate telling that follows the picture order beats a dramatic one that wanders.
• Fluency runs through all three criteria: long freezes and restarts weaken the story, the voice and the presence together.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) under Scoring Setup, or start from the judge scoring and tabulation guide.

How to prepare for LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling)

How entrants and their teachers usually get LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) right on the day:

• Start with one picture at a time: ask the child to say a sentence about what they can see, then join two pictures with a linking word such as “then” or “after that”.
• Teach a simple frame (who, where, the problem, what happens next, the ending) so the order holds under nerves.
• Practise with several different wordless sequences, because the one on the day will probably be new; a child who can read any sequence is safer than one who rehearsed a single set.
• Time every practice run; aim for a telling of about three to four minutes so there is room for pauses and the 4:30 warning never becomes a worry.
• Work on voice separately: say the same sentence cheerfully, worriedly and excitedly, and practise matching the voice to what the picture shows.
• Look back at each picture while telling, using a gesture or glance, so the telling stays tied to the pictures the judges are comparing it with.
• Rehearse the walk in, a pause, a smile and the first sentence, since a steady start steadies the rest.
• After a lost round, ask the judges for feedback if offered and work first on the weakest of the three areas: story details, voice or performance.

Frequently asked questions

Is LikhaWento (Wordless Story Retelling) 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.

What does “wordless” mean in LikhaWento?

The story is shown in pictures without printed text, so the child supplies every word of the telling. The template does not print how the pictures are presented, so the organiser brief is the guide.

Is LikhaWento the same as Story Retelling?

No. Story Retelling in the same template is set in English and retells a given story. LikhaWento is set in Filipino and works from a wordless picture sequence. Both are Grade 3 and both are marked out of 100, but the criteria wording differs.

How long does the child have?

Five minutes at most, with a warning at four minutes thirty seconds.

Is it judged individually or as a team?

Individually. Each child tells the story on their own.

Want the full judging picture? Read the judge scoring and tabulation guide, or browse every literacy competition item.