School Facebook Page Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A school-level team entry in which a school submits its official, student-run Facebook page, which must have been active and regularly updated for at least six months, judged as the best school Facebook page in an open category.

School Facebook Page is the social-media item of a national school media-literacy programme in Sri Lanka. A school does not send in a single post: it sends in a living page, and the prize is named Best School Facebook Page. A panel is therefore asked to look at how a page has been run over time, what its students publish, how the page treats the people who comment, and whether it holds together as a place the school community actually wants to visit.

The rules set out who may enter. The page must be the official page of the school, run with the approval of the Principal and under the guidance of teachers, or the official page of a school sports team, student association or student society of that school. Pages run by old-student associations, school development societies and similar bodies are not eligible, and neither is a page created only for the competition: it must have been in continuous operation and regularly updated for at least six months before the date on which applications were invited.

Ownership of the content is the heart of the item. Teachers, former students and outside helpers may give technical assistance and guidance, but everything published on the page has to be created by the school’s own students. Contestants are asked to write and publish original material instead of reposting from other pages, and nothing may infringe a third party’s copyright or amount to plagiarism.

What a page may contain is wide. Articles and creative work on any subject suitable for the school community are welcome, from economics, politics, arts and literature to science, sports and international affairs, together with photographs, illustrations, cartoons, diagrams, puzzles and graphs. The rules prefer a page whose content matches its stated purpose, and they ask that all information be accurate, relevant to the school community, and illustrated with clear, good-quality images, audio and video.

Two features set this item apart from the others in the programme. Users must be able to post comments, and the rules say particular attention will be paid to whether those comments are answered courteously and respectfully, so moderation is part of the entry. And the page must stay free of hate speech, defamatory, abusive or offensive language, discrimination on any protected ground and graphic violence, while showing respect for cultural and religious diversity.

For an organiser the item is a review exercise rather than a staged event. A coordinator logs each page as a school team entry, checks the six-month operating history and the eligibility of the page, and gives every panel member the same page address and review window. The programme prints no marks and no points for the places, so the organiser decides how to score; the template installs the item with a default maximum of 100 marks and zero place points, and a coordinator can change both.

Where School Facebook Page is run

In eTalenter’s data the exact title School Facebook Page is carried by one template, a Sri Lankan national school media-literacy competition run by a government information department for students of government, semi-government, private and international schools. It sits in the same programme as the school radio service and school YouTube channel items, which have their own rules and pages, and the catalogue holds other social-media style items under different titles; this page describes only the Sri Lankan edition, where the school is the entrant, and does not claim use elsewhere.

• Sri Lanka

Key facts

• Team entry made by a school, using the school form for school-level entries. A school that submits more than one Facebook page sends a separate form for each.
• Open competition, irrespective of age category or language medium. A page may be run in one language or several and its eligibility is not affected.
• Eligible pages: the school’s official page (Principal’s approval, teachers’ guidance) or the official page of a school sports team, student association or student society. Old-student association and school development society pages are not eligible.
• The page must have been in continuous operation and regularly updated for at least six months before the date applications were invited.
• All content must be created by the school’s students; teachers, former students and others may give technical help only. Original content is expected, not reposts from other pages.
• Users must be able to comment, and the courtesy of the replies is specifically watched. Entries are made by e-mail only. No marks or place points are printed; the template installs 100 marks by default.
• Idea starters, not rules: a weekly student-written science fact post, a “club of the week” spotlight, a photo series of school events with captions written by the photographers, an illustrated puzzle corner, a monthly interview with a teacher or alumnus written up by students.

On eTalenter, School Facebook Page is filed under Multimedia 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, School Facebook Page is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100.

What judges look at in School Facebook Page

What a School Facebook Page panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The programme prints no marks and no criteria for the Facebook page. What it does print are the standards a page has to meet, and those are the headings a panel can sensibly turn into a score sheet: originality and student authorship, quality and variety of content, accuracy and relevance, handling of comments, and safe, respectful content.
• Original, student-created content: every post has to be the work of the school’s students, and the rules prefer new material to reposts of other pages. A page full of original captions, articles and photographs shows ownership; a page that mostly shares other people’s posts, or whose writing sounds adult-made, loses ground.
• Quality and variety: the rules welcome articles and creative content across many subjects, plus photographs, illustrations, cartoons, diagrams, puzzles and graphs. A page that mixes formats and subjects and keeps to its stated purpose is stronger than one that posts the same kind of notice every time.
• Accuracy, relevance and presentation: published information must be accurate and relevant to the school community, and images, audio and video must be clear and of good quality. Checked facts, sharp photographs and readable text are what a reviewer notices first on a scroll through the page.
• Regular, sustained activity: six months of continuous operation and regular updates is a condition of entry, so a panel can reasonably look at the posting rhythm across that period. Steady weekly posts beat a burst of activity just before the deadline.
• Comments and conduct: comments must be possible, and particular attention is paid to whether they are answered courteously and respectfully. Prompt, polite replies and quiet removal of abusive comments reflect well; a page with unanswered or hostile threads, hate speech, discrimination or graphic violence does not.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for School Facebook Page under Scoring Setup, or start from how judge scoring and tabulation works on etalenter.

How to prepare for School Facebook Page

How entrants and their teachers usually get School Facebook Page right on the day:

• Check eligibility first. The page must be the school’s official page or that of a school team, association or society, approved by the Principal and guided by teachers, and it must have run with regular updates for at least six months before applications were invited. Keep the page history and a note of the approval on file.
• Name a student editorial team and share the work out: writers, photographers, illustrators, a fact-checker and a comment moderator. Let students plan the content calendar, write the posts and publish them; teachers can coach and sort out technical problems but should not write or choose the content.
• Plan a weekly rhythm of formats rather than posting at random, for example one article, one photo story, one puzzle or diagram and one school-news item each week. Variety across subjects shows the breadth the rules describe, and a calendar makes regular updating easy.
• Create, do not repost. Where a post draws on an outside fact or image, say where it came from, rewrite it in the students’ own words and use only pictures the school has the right to use. Check each post for anything that could count as copying.
• Fact-check every date, name and figure before publishing and keep a short source note. Read each post for anything that could be taken as abusive, discriminatory, defamatory or unsuitable, and make sure it respects cultural and religious diversity.
• Leave comments switched on and agree a reply routine: who answers, how fast, and what tone. Reply politely and helpfully, and remove abusive comments. Practise on a few sample threads so every moderator handles critics calmly.
• Before the deadline review the whole page as a stranger would: clear photos, readable text, no broken links, and a profile that states its purpose. Complete the school form, use a separate form for each page if the school submits more than one, and e-mail it to the competition’s Facebook address before the closing date.

Frequently asked questions

Is School Facebook Page 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.

Which Facebook pages can a school enter?

The school’s official page, run with the Principal’s approval and under the guidance of teachers, or the official page of a school sports team, student association or student society. Pages of old-student associations, school development societies and similar organisations are not eligible.

How long must the page have been running?

In continuous operation and regularly updated for at least six months before the date on which applications were invited. A page created only for the competition does not meet this condition.

Can teachers write or post the content?

No. Teachers, former students and other outsiders may give technical help and guidance, but all content published on the page must be created by the school’s students.

Does the page have to allow comments?

Yes. Users must be able to post comments, and the rules say particular attention will be paid to whether the comments are answered in a courteous and respectful manner.

Can we share posts from other pages?

The rules ask contestants to create and publish their own original content rather than directly reposting content from other Facebook pages, and nothing may infringe copyright or amount to plagiarism.

How is the School Facebook Page judged?

The programme prints no marks or criteria. Panels weigh originality and student authorship, quality and variety, accuracy, comment handling and respectful content, and the template installs 100 marks by default with First, Second and Third Places and Certificates of Merit. A coordinator can change the maximum marks.

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