Jingle Writing and Singing Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

An individual Grade 10 contest in which a student writes an original English jingle on a theme announced on the day and sings it in two to three minutes, marked 50 for lyrics, 30 for musicality and 20 for originality.

Jingle Writing and Singing joins two skills in one entry: the contestant is the lyricist and the singer. A jingle is a short, catchy song built around a message, the kind of tune that sticks after one hearing. In the edition behind this template, the Grade 10 contestant composed an original jingle with English lyrics on a theme announced on the day, then performed it in a slot of two to three minutes.

It sits beside a quiz, an essay and a poster in a junior-high festival of talents, and it is the only music item in that line-up. Each school sends one contestant, ideally with a teacher-coach, so the entry is really one student’s ability to turn a topic into words, a tune and a confident delivery rather than a choir or a band effort. Boys and girls compete together.

The marking is weighted heavily towards what is written. Of 100 marks, 50 go to the lyrics and how well they relate to the theme, 30 to musicality (the execution and overall performance) and 20 to originality. A beautiful voice therefore cannot rescue lyrics that drift off the theme, and a clever slogan sung flatly loses the middle band of marks.

Organisers like this kind of item because it rewards thinking on your feet as much as singing: every entrant gets the same theme at the same time, so the field is level and the results are easy to compare. For a school it is also a cheap, accessible way to put creativity, language and music into one contest.

Where Jingle Writing and Singing comes from

The jingle began as a form of broadcast advertising: a very short song with a repeated phrase, written so that listeners remember a name or a message. Schools later borrowed the form for public-awareness campaigns and writing-and-performance contests, because it asks for brevity, rhyme and rhythm in one go.

Where Jingle Writing and Singing is run

In eTalenter’s data this exact item is carried by one template: a junior-high Festival of Talents run by a city schools division in the Philippines, where it is one of four categories open to public and private schools. That is the only evidence behind this page, so it makes no wider claim, although writing-and-performing contests built on a campaign theme are common in school festivals in many countries.

• Cabuyao, Philippines

Key facts

• Individual entry: one contestant per school, with a teacher-coach preferred for the category.
• Grade 10 learners of public and private junior high schools; boys and girls compete together.
• An original composition with English lyrics; the theme is announced on the day.
• Performance time is two to three minutes; the template sets a 3-minute maximum with a warning at 2 minutes.
• Scored out of 100: Lyrics (relevance to the theme) 50, Musicality (execution and overall performance) 30, Originality (creativity) 20.
• No placings, grades or prizes are printed in the source, so none are modelled.

On eTalenter, Jingle Writing and Singing is filed under Music 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, Jingle Writing and Singing is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 3 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Jingle Writing and Singing

What a Jingle Writing and Singing panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Lyrics carry half of the marks (50). Judges look first at whether every line serves the announced theme, so a jingle that sounds clever but wanders to another subject loses the biggest band.
• Relevance beats decoration. A plain, clear message repeated in a memorable hook usually outscores long, ornate verses that bury the theme.
• Musicality (30) covers execution and overall performance: staying in tune, keeping a steady beat, clear English diction, and finishing inside the time limit with confidence rather than reading nervously from paper.
• Originality (20) rewards a fresh melody and fresh wording. A borrowed tune with swapped-in words, or lyrics lifted from a known advertisement, gives away the marks this band exists to reward.
• Time discipline matters in a two-to-three minute slot. Running far under leaves the song half-formed; running over invites a stop from the officials and a poor ending.
• The theme is announced on the day, so the contestant who can plan quickly, write cleanly and still sing steadily gets all three bands working together.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Jingle Writing and Singing under Scoring Setup, or start from the full singing competition judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Jingle Writing and Singing

How entrants and their teachers usually get Jingle Writing and Singing right on the day:

• Practise writing to a prompt. Give yourself a surprise topic (road safety, reading, cleanliness, anything) and write a four-line hook and two short verses against a clock, again and again, until the first idea comes fast.
• Learn a handful of tune shapes that fit almost any words, such as a call-and-response chorus, a rising hook and a gentle ending, so you can drop new lyrics into a familiar structure without inventing a melody from nothing.
• Build a chorus that repeats the theme phrase. A short repeated line is easy to remember, easy to sing under pressure and shows the judges immediately that you stayed on topic.
• Check your rhymes and meter by speaking the lyrics aloud before singing them, and keep a simple English vocabulary you can spell and pronounce confidently.
• Rehearse to the timing: aim for about two and a half minutes, so you land inside the two-to-three minute window even if nerves speed you up or slow you down.
• Agree the logistics with your coach beforehand: arrive early to register, bring only what the contest allows, and remember that in the source rules any prohibited material or device means disqualification and only the coach may protest, orally.

Frequently asked questions

Is Jingle Writing and Singing 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 is a jingle in a school talent contest?

A short, catchy original song built around one message or theme. In this item the contestant writes the English lyrics and sings the jingle in about two to three minutes.

How are the marks divided?

Out of 100: Lyrics (relevance to the theme) 50, Musicality (execution and overall performance) 30 and Originality (creativity) 20.

Can I use a tune I already know?

The item asks for an original composition, and 20 marks are given for originality, so reusing a familiar melody or advertisement wording is a risky choice. Create your own tune and wording.

Can I sing in Filipino or another language?

In the source edition the lyrics were in English, and the template records the item as English.

Is the theme known in advance?

No, it is announced on the day of the contest, so entrants prepare their method rather than a finished song.

Who can enter and how many contestants can a school send?

It was a Grade 10 item for public and private junior high schools, with one contestant per school and a teacher-coach preferred for the category.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full singing competition judging criteria guide, or browse every music competition item.