An off-stage item in which entrants make a piece of art, a design or a made object, and the finished work is judged on creativity, craft and how well it meets its brief.
Art, Design and Technology is a making class. Instead of performing, the entrant produces a physical piece: a drawing or painting, a designed object, a model or a crafted item, and the panel assesses the work itself. Because the heading covers three related disciplines, a good entry shows a clear idea and careful making, whether it is a picture, a product or a small technical solution.
How the item is run is the organiser’s choice. Some festivals publish a theme in advance and ask for finished work to be handed in before the day, so the panel can study each piece at leisure. Others run it as a supervised sitting where entrants work to a brief within a fixed time. Either way the judging is of the work on the table, so presentation matters: a clearly labelled, well-mounted piece is easier to credit than one that arrives crumpled.
On the eTalenter Welsh youth festival template it sits in the Off Stage category as an Individual item for boys and girls together, in Welsh, across seven school-year bands: Year 2 and under, Years 3-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, 12-13 and a 14-25 band. The published rules print no marking scheme and no time limit for this item, so the 100-mark total and the 10-minute field are the app’s defaults. An organiser should replace them with whatever their own notice states, including any size limits or materials rules.
Organisers keep a class like this because it gives young people who are not performers a place in the festival, and because the finished pieces can be exhibited alongside the stage programme. For teachers it is a chance to connect classroom art and design-and-technology projects to a wider audience and a real deadline.
Where Art, Design and Technology is run
On the eTalenter templates this item appears once, on the Welsh-language youth arts festival template in Wales, in the Off Stage category with seven classes, one per age band. Art and design classes are common in school and youth festivals in many countries, but this page describes the item as set up on that template, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for permitted materials, size limits and whether the work is made on the day or beforehand.
- Wales
Key facts
- Individual item: one entrant, one piece of work, boys and girls together
- Seven bands by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band
- Language is fixed to Welsh on the Welsh template
- Off-stage: the finished work is judged, not a live performance
- Marked out of 100 on the template; this total and the 10-minute field are app defaults because the published rules print no figures
- Idea: a theme drawn from local landscape, a folk tale or an everyday object redesigned for a new use, but only if your own notice sets or allows one
On eTalenter, Art, Design and Technology is filed under Off Stage 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, Art, Design and Technology is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Art, Design and Technology
What a Art, Design and Technology panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Creativity: an idea that feels the entrant’s own rather than a copy of a familiar image or kit
- Response to the brief: the piece answers any set theme, material or size in the notice
- Craft and finish: clean lines, secure joins, careful colour work and no rough or unfinished areas
- Design thinking: for design and technology pieces, a clear purpose and a sensible solution to it
- Use of materials: materials chosen for a reason and handled with confidence
- Presentation: work that is named, mounted or displayed so the panel can see it at its best
- Suitability to the band: ambition that matches the entrant’s age, finished well rather than overreached
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Art, Design and Technology under Scoring Setup, or start from the judge scoring and tabulation guide.
How to prepare for Art, Design and Technology
How entrants and their teachers usually get Art, Design and Technology right on the day:
- Read the notice first and note the theme, size, materials and hand-in date before sketching anything
- Sketch three or four quick ideas, then choose the one you can finish well rather than the biggest
- Gather and test materials early; a glue or paint that behaves badly the night before costs marks
- Work in stages with small deadlines so there is time to improve weak areas
- Ask a friend what the piece is meant to show; if they cannot tell, strengthen the idea
- Keep edges clean and surfaces tidy; careful finishing is the easiest way to lift a mark
- Label and mount the work as the notice asks, and protect it in transit
- Teachers can guide technique, but the idea and the making should be the entrant’s own
Ready-made event templates that include Art, Design and Technology
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urdd Eisteddfod (Wales) | Off Stage | Marks | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Art, Design and Technology 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 Art, Design and Technology a performance item?
No. It is an off-stage item in which the finished piece is what gets judged. Check your own notice for whether it is made beforehand or on the day.
What materials can I use?
The published rules for the Welsh template do not list materials. Follow the form given in your festival notice.
How is it marked?
The template marks it out of 100 as an app default. The published rules print no scheme, so an organiser can replace the total with their own.
Is it judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Each entrant submits their own piece within their school-year band.
Which age groups can enter?
The Welsh template has seven bands grouped by school year, from Year 2 and under to a 14-25 band.
Want the full judging picture? Read the judge scoring and tabulation guide, or browse every off stage competition item.
Try Art, Design and Technology in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Art, Design and Technology, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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