A spoken storytelling item performed live and alone, open to any language other than the festival’s main regional one, and judged on narrative, voice and delivery.
Story Telling (Any Other Language) is the open-language version of a spoken storytelling item. One candidate stands in front of the panel and tells a story aloud, from memory, using voice, pace and expression rather than a script, a prop or a recording. The plot has to be followed by ear alone, so everything depends on how clearly and vividly it is told.
In this library the item belongs to one template, a university inter-collegiate youth festival, where it sits in the Literary category directly beside a Marathi Story Telling item. It is an Individual item open to students of any gender in a single 17 to 25 band, with a limit of seven minutes per head and a mark out of 100. The language field is left open (‘Any/NA’), while the sister item is fixed to Marathi, and no warning bell is set, so the seven minutes is a single hard limit.
A round is run one candidate at a time. The entrant is called up, tells the story within the limit, and the panel marks as they listen. Because the listeners must be able to follow the language, the choice has to be settled before the day: a student whose strongest spoken language is English, Hindi or another tongue can enter this item without competing against fluent speakers of the home language, which is the whole reason organisers split the two.
A strong telling at this age is more than recitation. It has a clear opening that puts a character in a situation, a middle that builds towards a turning point, and an ending that is actually reached before time is called. Seven minutes is long enough to carry a full folk tale or an original story with two or three characters, but short enough that padding shows.
Where Story Telling (Any Other Language) is run
In this library the item is carried by one template, a Maharashtra public university’s inter-collegiate youth festival, in its Literary category next to the Marathi Story Telling. Many Indian college festivals pair a regional-language spoken item with an English or Hindi one, but names, time limits and rules differ from festival to festival, so read your own programme before assuming the format.
- Maharashtra, India (university youth festival)
Key facts
- Individual item, open to students of any gender.
- Single Students band, 17 to 25 years.
- Seven minutes per head with no warning bell set; marked out of 100.
- Language is open (‘Any/NA’), while the same festival’s Story Telling item is fixed to Marathi; the two have separate entries.
- Performed live and alone, with no team version in this festival.
- Judged by the panel as the story is told, not marked afterwards from a written script.
On eTalenter, Story Telling (Any Other Language) 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, Story Telling (Any Other Language) is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 7 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Story Telling (Any Other Language)
What a Story Telling (Any Other Language) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Narrative shape: a beginning, a turning point and an ending that is reached inside the seven minutes, not a loose sequence of events.
- Voice: pace, pitch and volume that change with the mood, and clear distinction between narrator and characters without slipping into caricature.
- Memory and fluency: a story told from memory. Reading from notes, long pauses or being prompted costs marks quickly.
- Command of the chosen language: pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Switching between languages mid-story is normally penalised in an open-language item.
- Presence: eye contact, posture and facial expression that carry the listener along, since there are no props or visuals to lean on.
- Time discipline: finishing with a proper closing line before the limit rather than being stopped mid-sentence or rushing the last scene.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Story Telling (Any Other Language) under Scoring Setup, or start from the elocution & speech judging criteria guide (the closest sibling format).
How to prepare for Story Telling (Any Other Language)
How entrants and their teachers usually get Story Telling (Any Other Language) right on the day:
- Pick the language you can tell a story in with ease under pressure, not just the one you are most comfortable chatting in. Try a three-minute telling on a new tale before you commit.
- Choose a story with a clear arc and two or three characters. A tale that needs fifteen minutes cannot be squeezed into seven without losing its point.
- Learn the order of scenes, not the exact wording. Remembering the sequence lets you recover if a phrase slips, whereas a memorised script collapses at the first gap.
- Rehearse aloud with a timer until a full telling lands between six and seven minutes, and practise once with an audience of strangers who do not know the tale.
- Give each character a distinct way of speaking, such as a slower voice for an old person or quicker speech for a frightened one, and keep it consistent.
- Write out and polish your first and last lines. A confident opening settles nerves and a deliberate closing line tells the panel you finished on purpose.
- Check the festival’s rules for permitted languages, whether the story may be your own composition, and whether any aids are allowed, and plan around those answers.
Ready-made event templates that include Story Telling (Any Other Language)
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Mumbai Youth Festival | Literary | Marks | 1 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Story Telling (Any Other Language) 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 Story Telling (Any Other Language) the same as Story Telling?
No. At this festival, Story Telling is fixed to Marathi and Story Telling (Any Other Language) is open to other languages. They are separate items with separate entries, judged on the same qualities.
Which languages can I tell my story in?
The language field is open, so any language the panel can follow. English and Hindi are the usual choices, but confirm the permitted languages in your festival’s rules.
How long can the telling be?
The university festival template sets seven minutes per head, marked out of 100, with no warning bell, so keep your own eye on the clock.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
It is an Individual item: each entrant tells a story alone and is scored on their own performance.
Is it the same as Story Writing?
No. Story Telling is spoken and judged live on delivery, while Story Writing is written in one sitting and marked from the finished pages afterwards.
Want the full judging picture? Read the elocution & speech judging criteria guide (the closest sibling format), or browse every literary competition item.
Try Story Telling (Any Other Language) in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Story Telling (Any Other Language), and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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