Traditional Story Telling Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A spoken item in which one or two students retell a story from their own folk or oral tradition, marked on theme, communication, props, costume, overall presentation and a write-up with a video.

Traditional Story Telling is the final sub-category on the national school arts festival template. A student in classes IX to XII tells a story drawn from the traditions of their own community or region, such as a folk tale, a fable, a legend, a story from an epic or a tale handed down by elders, and tells it aloud to a panel in no more than five minutes.

It is the only item in the festival that is judged as storytelling rather than as music, dance, drama or visual art, yet it borrows from all of them. Unlike a plain speech, the panel also looks at stage props and design and at costume and make-up, so a teller may set a simple scene, wear something that suits the tale, or use a storyteller’s traditional aids. The telling itself, though, stays at the centre.

The source rules allow one or two students to present the item. On the template it is therefore set up in two groups, a solo group and a group (team) entry, both open to boys and girls together, with no fixed language and a five-minute limit. It is marked out of 100 on six criteria: Theme 20, Communication skill / Expression 20, Stage props / Design 10, Costume and make-up 10, Overall presentation 20, and Write-up and video 20.

A finished entry is a story with a clear opening, a turning point and an ending, told from memory in a voice that holds the room, with just enough staging to support it. Alongside it, the student prepares a short written summary and a short video, which are judged for 20 marks. Organisers run the item to keep oral traditions alive and to give students who are not singers, dancers or actors a place in a cultural festival.

Where Traditional Story Telling is run

On the eTalenter templates this item appears on one: a national school arts festival in India for classes IX to XII, where it forms a category of its own. Story telling contests are common at libraries, schools and cultural festivals in many countries, but the focus on a traditional tale, the props and costume marks, and the write-up and video marks are specific to this festival’s rules, so organisers elsewhere should set their own.

• India

Key facts

• One or two students per entry, classes IX to XII, boys and girls together; the template carries a solo group and a team group
• Time limit of five minutes; the source rules print no warning bell, so none is set
• Marked out of 100: Theme 20, Communication skill / Expression 20, Stage props / Design 10, Costume and make-up 10, Overall presentation 20, Write-up and video 20
• No fixed language: the teller may use any language the panel can follow
• A short written summary and a short video are prepared and judged for 20 marks
• Idea: a village folk tale with an animal hero, told with a single cloth and a handful of simple props (an idea, not a rule)
• Idea: a short episode from a local legend about a river, hill or temple, told by two students taking alternate parts (an idea, not a rule)
• Idea: a fable from a regional collection, retold with a modern moral and one prop that the story hinges on (an idea, not a rule)

On eTalenter, Traditional Story Telling 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, Traditional Story Telling is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Traditional Story Telling

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

• Theme (20): a story that truly belongs to a tradition, with a clear message and a satisfying shape; a modern story with no traditional root, or a rambling plot, loses marks
• Communication skill / Expression (20): voice, pace, pauses, eye contact and gesture that carry the listener from start to end; reading from a script or a flat monotone loses most here
• Stage props / Design (10): one or two well-chosen props or a simple set that help the story; a cluttered stage that distracts from the telling costs marks
• Costume and make-up (10): dress that suits the tale or the storyteller’s tradition; an elaborate costume that has no link to the story gains nothing
• Overall presentation (20): how the whole telling hangs together, including the entry, timing, confidence and finish, and whether it stays inside five minutes
• Write-up and video (20): a short summary and recording that match the story actually told and name its source; marks are lost when they describe something else or give no source

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Traditional Story Telling under Scoring Setup, or start from the full speech and storytelling judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Traditional Story Telling

How entrants and their teachers usually get Traditional Story Telling right on the day:

• Choose a story you can trace to a source, such as a grandparent, a local book or a community tale, and note where you heard it, because the panel and the write-up will both ask
• Cut the story to fit five minutes with room to spare: an opening, two or three scenes, a turning point and an ending, with nothing that does not move the plot
• Learn the story by its beats, not word for word, so you can tell it naturally and recover if you lose a line
• Rehearse out loud with a stopwatch and a listener, and mark where to slow down, where to pause and where to change your voice for each character
• Pick props and costume that serve the story: one cloth, one stick or one lamp used well beats a box of items; test that you can carry and set them quickly
• If two of you tell it, decide who takes which part and the handover points in advance, and practise the handover until it is smooth
• Write the summary around the story’s source, its message and why you chose it, and record the video with clear sound so it reflects the live telling
• On the day, start strongly, speak to the back of the room and watch the time; finish on the last line of the story, not with an apology

Frequently asked questions

Is Traditional Story Telling 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 Traditional Story Telling the same as a story-telling contest in school?

Not quite. It is a story told from a community’s own tradition, and the panel also marks props, costume and a write-up with a video. A general storytelling item usually marks only the telling.

Can I read the story from a script?

The item is judged on communication and expression, so reading from a page is likely to lose most of those marks. Tell it from memory, using the story’s beats to guide you.

Can two students tell the story together?

Yes. The source rules allow one or two students, and the template carries both a solo group and a group entry. The panel marks the telling as a whole, so the two tellers need a smooth handover.

How long can the telling be?

No more than five minutes. The rules summarised on eTalenter print no warning bell, so keep your own time and finish inside the limit.

Does it matter which language I use?

The template sets no language for the item, so any language works if the panel can follow it. Choose the one in which you can tell the story most naturally.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full speech and storytelling judging criteria guide, or browse every literacy competition item.