A written-work item in which entrants submit original prose or verse, judged on imagination, language and craft.
Literary and Composition is a creative writing class. Instead of performing on a stage, the entrant produces an original piece of writing, such as a short story, an essay, a piece of descriptive prose or a poem, and the panel marks the page. Because nothing is delivered live, the item rewards patient drafting and editing rather than stage presence.
How a round runs depends on the festival. Some organisers set a theme or a title in advance and ask for the finished piece to be handed in before the day; others run it as a supervised sitting where entrants write in a hall for a fixed time. Either way, each entry is read by the panel against a common yardstick, scores are recorded per entrant and the highest totals take the placings.
On the eTalenter Welsh youth festival template this is the single writing section of the Off Stage category, deliberately kept as one item rather than split into separate story, poem and essay classes. It is an Individual item open to boys and girls together, in Welsh, across all seven school-year bands from Year 2 and under up to a 14-25 band, and it is marked out of 100. The published rules print no marking scheme and no time limit for the 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.
Organisers keep a writing item on the programme because it gives quieter entrants a way to take part, builds reading and language skills and produces something tangible: a body of work that can be displayed, anthologised or read aloud at the prize-giving.
Where Literary and Composition 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. Creative writing classes are a long-standing feature of school and community arts festivals in many countries, but this page describes the item as it is set up on that template, so entrants elsewhere should check their own notice for the permitted form, word limit and whether the piece is written on the day.
- Wales
Key facts
- Individual item: one entrant, one piece of original writing, 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
- Marked out of 100 on the template; this total and the 10-minute field are app defaults because the published rules print no figures
- Kept as one combined writing section on the template, not as separate story, poem and essay classes
- Judged on the writing itself: ideas, language and structure, not handwriting or length
On eTalenter, Literary and Composition 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, Literary and Composition 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 Literary and Composition
What a Literary and Composition panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Originality of idea: a fresh angle on the theme or title rather than the first story that comes to mind
- Command of language: precise word choice, varied sentences and a natural voice suited to the entrant’s age band
- Structure: a clear opening, development and ending, with paragraphs or verses that follow on from one another
- Fit to the brief: the piece answers the set title or theme and keeps to any form, length or time rule in the notice
- Accuracy: spelling, grammar and punctuation under control, since slips on a short piece are easy for a panel to spot
- Impact: whether the ending leaves the reader with an image, a feeling or a point worth remembering
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Literary and Composition under Scoring Setup, or start from the full story writing and essay judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Literary and Composition
How entrants and their teachers usually get Literary and Composition right on the day:
- Read widely in the language you will write in; ear for rhythm and vocabulary comes from reading, not from last-minute cramming
- Practise short timed pieces, 20 to 30 minutes, if your festival runs the item as a sitting, so you learn to plan before writing
- Spend the first few minutes on a plan: a one-line idea, a beginning, a turning point and an ending
- Open with a concrete detail or a line of speech rather than a general statement
- Keep to one idea and develop it well; a tight short piece scores better than a rambling long one
- Leave time at the end to read the piece through and fix spelling, punctuation and missing words
- If you write in advance, redraft at least twice and ask a teacher or friend which sentence they would cut
- Check the notice for form, word limit and any name or school marking rules, and follow them exactly
Ready-made event templates that include Literary and Composition
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 Literary and Composition 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.
Does Literary and Composition mean a story, a poem or an essay?
On the Welsh template it is a single combined writing section. The exact form allowed is set by your own festival notice, so check it before you start.
Is it written on the day or handed in beforehand?
That is the organiser’s choice. The published rules do not fix it for the template, so follow the notice for your event.
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 is marked on their own piece, and the highest totals take the placings.
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 full story writing and essay judging criteria guide, or browse every off stage competition item.
Try Literary and Composition in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Literary and Composition, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
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