A solo spoken-prose category in which each entrant delivers a passage of ordinary written English from a story, novel, essay or similar text, with the older classes offering two contrasting passages, recorded on the template as a four-minute entry scored out of 100 and offered in all seven classes.
Speech – Standard Prose is the fifty-seventh entry on the Jamaican national performing arts festival template and the second category of its Speech discipline. Where the class before it asks for verse, this one asks for prose: the entrant stands alone, with no music and no scenery, and brings a passage of ordinary written English to life. The handbook files it as category 2 of the speech syllabus, marked as a prose category, and defines prose plainly as the ordinary form of written or spoken language, the straightforward discourse found in newspapers, novels, textbooks and the Bible.
The shape of a round depends on the class. In Classes 1 to 4 the entrant presents a single selection of prose in standard English. In Classes 5 and 6 the entrant presents two contrasting selections, for example one comic and one tragic, and at least one of the two must be of Caribbean origin, meaning the author or the text. The handbook explains that “contrasting” means opposing emotional content, and it asks that the chosen pieces show the performer’s emotional range, with sorrow, joy and anger given as examples. Each selection is limited to three minutes.
Prose is harder to carry than it looks. A poem arrives with rhyme and rhythm that do some of the work; a paragraph of prose has to be shaped entirely by the speaker. The entrant decides where the sentences breathe, which clauses are lifted, where a description should slow down and where dialogue should quicken, and whether the narrator and each character sound different. A strong entry sounds like someone telling the audience something they care about, not someone reading a page from memory.
Standard English also means the sound of the words is held to the Oxford form of pronunciation, so a prose passage full of long, unusual words needs the same dictionary check as a poem. The author must be acknowledged, the entry must say it is prose, and a copy of the selection travels with the entry form. Costume should suit the character or situation of the passage, and the handbook discourages school uniform and plain black, white or grey unless the mood of the text calls for it.
The template records the item as a team entry, both genders together, English as the language, a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes and a score out of 100, in all seven classes. The handbook describes the category as a solo class with three minutes per selection. An organiser who wants to follow the handbook should set the entry type to individual and set the time limit to suit the number of passages the class performs. Organisers run a prose class because it widens a speech programme to children and adults who prefer storytelling and narrative to rhyme, and it needs nothing more than a clear floor and a good listener.
Where Speech – Standard Prose comes from
Reading and reciting prose aloud is one of the oldest forms of public performance, and competitive speech and drama festivals in many English-speaking countries run separate classes for verse and for prose because the two ask for different skills. Nothing in the source for this template says when the standard English prose class joined the festival, who has won it or how it developed, so no festival history is claimed here.
Where Speech – Standard Prose is run
On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Jamaican national performing arts festival template, where it is assigned to all seven classes (six age bands from the youngest children to adults aged 20 and over, plus a combined class) in the Speech discipline, directly after the standard English poem class and ahead of the Jamaican-language poem and prose classes. Prose-reading and storytelling classes appear in school, church and community arts festivals, eisteddfodau and speech and drama festivals in many countries, but each event sets its own text lists, time limits and age bands, so the rules on this page apply to the festival the template is built from.
- Jamaica (the national performing arts festival the template is built from)
Key facts
- A prose category: the entry must state that the selection is prose, not a poem, and the right author must be acknowledged
- Classes 1 to 4 present one selection of prose in standard English; Classes 5 and 6 present two contrasting selections, at least one of Caribbean origin (author or text)
- “Contrasting” means opposing emotional content, for example one comic and one tragic passage; each selection is limited to three minutes
- The template gives a team entry, both genders together, English, a four-minute limit with the warning bell at three minutes and a score out of 100, in all seven classes; the handbook describes a solo category
- Marked on the shared four-part speech table: voice production, speech, presentation and interpretation, weighted 20, 30, 20 and 30 at auditions, 10, 35, 15 and 40 at parish level and 4, 20, 4 and 22 (out of 50) at the national finals
- Prose is defined as the ordinary form of written or spoken language, as in newspapers, novels, textbooks and the Bible; pronunciation is held to the Oxford English form
- Ideas, not rules, for choosing a passage: a lively scene with dialogue from a short story for the comic piece; a quiet, reflective passage from a memoir or novel for the serious one; a Caribbean writer such as Olive Senior, Andrew Salkey or Roger Mais for the Caribbean requirement in Classes 5 and 6. Always check the passage against the approved anthology or source and the age of the entrant
On eTalenter, Speech – Standard Prose is filed under On 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, Speech – Standard Prose is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 4 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Speech – Standard Prose
What a Speech – Standard Prose panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- The handbook prints one marking table for the whole Speech discipline, so a prose entry is scored on the same four headings as a poem; the points below follow that table and are a summary, not a quotation of the rule
- Voice production: audibility, projection, tone, resonance, colouring, texture and pace, worth 20 at auditions, 10 at parish level and 4 of 50 at the national finals. In prose this is mostly pace and colour. Marks go to a voice that speeds up for action, slows for description and changes tone between narrator and character; they are lost to a steady, even reading rate that never varies
- Speech: articulation, enunciation and pronunciation, worth 30, 35 and 20 of 50. Because the passage is made of sentences rather than short lines, clean word endings and accurate Oxford pronunciation of longer words carry a great many marks. A sentence that dissolves at the end, or a word said in the wrong form, costs them
- Presentation: costume, stage presence, performance energy, style and visual impact, worth 20, 15 and 4 of 50. The costume should suit the narrator or character of the passage. Calm posture, direct eye contact and a few deliberate gestures usually score better than constant movement
- Interpretation: comprehension, expression, mood and feeling and believability, worth 30, 40 and 22 of 50. This is where a prose class is won. The panel rewards an entrant who understands the passage, makes its atmosphere felt and is believable as the speaker, and marks down one who delivers every sentence in the same neutral tone
- Range and contrast in Classes 5 and 6: the two passages must differ in emotion, so the panel listens for a real shift in voice, pace and mood between them rather than the same delivery used twice
- Time: three minutes for each selection. Prose is easy to over-choose, so a passage that does not finish inside the limit must be cut at a natural pause in rehearsal, not rushed on the day
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Speech – Standard Prose under Scoring Setup, or start from the full speech competition judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Speech – Standard Prose
How entrants and their teachers usually get Speech – Standard Prose right on the day:
- Choose a passage that can stand alone. Pick a scene or paragraph with a clear beginning, middle and end rather than a slice that needs the rest of the book to make sense; a listener who has not read the story should still follow it
- Check the rules first: prose, not a poem, in standard English; author acknowledged; a copy of the selection ready for the entry form; and, for Classes 5 and 6, two contrasting passages with at least one of Caribbean origin. Use the approved anthology, a school text or another approved source
- Cut to fit before you memorise. Time the passage aloud, trim whole sentences that do not help, and aim for roughly two and a half minutes so the three-minute limit has a margin for nerves
- Mark up a printed copy. Underline the words that carry the feeling, put a slash at every breath, and write beside each paragraph the mood it needs, such as calm, rising worry or sudden relief. Then memorise paragraph by paragraph, not word by word
- Give narrator and characters different voices. Decide in advance how each one sounds, in pitch and speed, and keep them consistent, but stay in standard English throughout because that is what the class is judged on
- Practise diction for a week or two: read a newspaper column aloud every day, finish every word, and look up the pronunciation of unfamiliar words in a dictionary so you use the Oxford form
- Rehearse for different listeners, including someone who has never seen the text. Ask them what the story was about and where their attention drifted, and rewrite the delivery of those places. Record yourself and listen for sameness in the middle
- Plan the stage picture and costume: where you enter, where you stand, what you do with your hands and how you finish. Choose clothing that suits the character in the passage and avoids school uniform and plain black, white or grey, as the handbook advises
- After a result, ask for the adjudicator’s comments and note which of the four headings lost the marks. Most improvement comes from interpretation and speech, so choose a more demanding passage next season and keep working on the pronunciations that were marked down
Ready-made event templates that include Speech – Standard Prose
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| JCDC National Performing Arts Festival (Jamaica) | On Stage | Marks | 7 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Speech – Standard Prose 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.
What counts as prose in this category?
The handbook defines prose as the ordinary form of written or spoken language, straightforward discourse such as that found in newspapers, novels, textbooks and the Bible. A passage from a short story, novel, essay or similar text fits; a poem does not, and the entry must state clearly whether it is prose or a poem.
How long can the prose selection be?
The handbook allows three minutes for each selection, and Classes 5 and 6 perform two. The template gives a four-minute window with the warning bell at three minutes, so an organiser following the handbook should change the limit to match the number of passages in the class.
Do I have to perform two passages?
Only in Classes 5 and 6, which are for ages 16 to 19 and 20 and over. In Classes 1 to 4 the entrant presents one selection. In Classes 5 and 6 the two passages must be contrasting, for example one comic and one tragic, and at least one must be of Caribbean origin, meaning the author or the text.
Is standard English prose the same as Jamaican prose?
No. They are separate categories in the handbook. Standard English Prose is judged on standard English pronunciation, while Jamaican Prose is performed in Jamaican, and a mixed class exists for selections that use both. The entry must say which category it is for.
Can I use my own writing?
The handbook asks for the right author to be acknowledged and for a copy of the selection to be submitted with the entry form, and it points to the suggested anthology, school texts, earlier anthologies and other approved published material. Ask the organiser before entering a passage you wrote yourself.
Is this judged individually or as a team?
The handbook describes it as a solo category. The template records it as a team entry, so an organiser who wants to follow the handbook should set it to individual. Group versions of prose classes are separate speaking-ensemble categories.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full speech competition judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
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