Tales and Storytelling Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

Tales and Storytelling is the oral discipline of an international Games for French-speaking countries: one storyteller aged 18 to 35, with a musician if the telling needs one, performs a tale to a jury of five and can win gold, silver or bronze.

Tales and Storytelling is the spoken-word discipline in the cultural programme of the Francophone Games, an international event in which French-speaking countries send young artists to compete in music, dance, literature, the visual arts and performance. The discipline is built on a simple unit, one storyteller telling one tale to a live audience and a jury. Where the telling calls for it, a single musician may accompany the storyteller, which fits the oral traditions of many French-speaking regions, where a tale is often told with rhythm, a refrain or an instrument beneath the voice.

In the rules held by eTalenter, every competitor in the programme must be over 18 and under 35 during the Games, and for this discipline the age limit applies to the storyteller only, not to an accompanying musician. Entry is not open to the general public: it goes through the member state or government that sends the artist, after a national pre-selection, and the international pre-selection then narrows the field to a limited number of artists per discipline. The rules for the programme as a whole are printed in one general document; the specific rules for each discipline, such as how long a tale may run, whether it must be traditional or original, and which language it is told in, are separate documents that eTalenter does not hold, so this page does not state them.

On the day the storyteller performs before a jury of five, one president and four members. The jury ranks three winners and two further mentions, and gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the top three. The rules print no marks and no judging criteria for the discipline, so the template installs the item as an Individual entry, open to both genders, marked out of 100 with no time limit and no language fixed. A coordinator running the same discipline at a school, regional or club level should therefore set the time limit, the language and the marking sheet in the registration notes before entries open.

Organisers like a tales-and-storytelling class because it needs almost nothing but a quiet floor, a microphone if the room is large, a timekeeper and a panel that can listen well. It rewards skills that a singing or dance class cannot, such as voice control, pacing, memory and the ability to hold a room with no scenery or script on the stage.

Where Tales and Storytelling is run

The title Tales and Storytelling appears in one eTalenter template, the cultural competitions of the Francophone Games, where it is one of ten disciplines for artists aged 18 to 35 and is installed as an Individual item. No other template carries this exact title. Spoken storytelling classes under other titles, such as Storytelling or Story Telling, are run at school festivals and community competitions elsewhere, and they have their own pages; this page does not describe them as the same item.

• Francophone world (member states and governments of the Francophone Games)

Key facts

• An Individual item in the one template that carries it: one storyteller, with a musician if the telling needs one
• Open to men and women aged over 18 and under 35 during the Games; the age limit applies to the storyteller, not to an accompanying musician
• Judged by a jury of five, one president and four members; the jury ranks three winners and two mentions
• Gold, silver and bronze medals; the rules print no points for placings, so the template installs First, Second and Third with 0 points
• Installed out of 100 with no printed judging criteria, no time limit and no language fixed, because the programme’s general rules do not print them
• Entry is through a member state’s national pre-selection, with an international pre-selection to limit the number of artists per discipline

On eTalenter, Tales and Storytelling is filed under Oral 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, Tales and Storytelling is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100.

What judges look at in Tales and Storytelling

What a Tales and Storytelling panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The printed rules give no criteria for this discipline, so this list is general advice drawn from how spoken-word panels usually listen, not a sheet taken from the Games
• Command of the tale: a clear beginning, a middle that builds and an ending that lands; a teller who loses the thread or rushes the ending shows it at once
• Voice: volume that carries without shouting, pace that varies with the action, and pauses used on purpose; a flat or hurried voice is the commonest way to lose a room
• Expression and presence: face, hands and eye contact that match the story, and a stance that stays with the audience instead of drifting around the floor
• Use of the musician, where one is used: the accompaniment should lift the telling and leave the words clear, and a player who covers the voice works against the teller
• Originality and cultural roots: a tale that carries a real voice, region or tradition is easier to remember than one that could have been told anywhere, though the rules do not say whether the tale must be traditional or new

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Tales and Storytelling under Scoring Setup, or start from the full speech and storytelling judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Tales and Storytelling

How entrants and their teachers usually get Tales and Storytelling right on the day:

• Ask the organiser first for the points the rules leave open: the time limit, the language of the telling, whether the tale must be traditional or original, and how the musician is allowed to take part
• Choose a tale you can tell without a script. A story with a clear shape, a few strong characters and a repeated line is easier to carry from memory than a long plot with many turns
• Learn the story as scenes, not as sentences: list the five or six beats from opening to ending, then tell it aloud in different words each time so it stays alive
• Practise in front of listeners of different ages and ask them what they remembered; the parts they forget are the parts to cut or to tell more clearly
• Time every run-through with a stopwatch and rehearse a version a minute shorter, so a slow start or an extra detour does not push the telling over the limit
• If a musician joins, agree where the music enters, where it falls silent and who gives the cue, and rehearse with the real instrument and the real room size
• On the day, arrive early to stand on the floor, test the microphone and check where the audience will sit, then take one slow breath before the first line
• Ideas, not rules: a tale about a river crossing, a market trickster, how a village got its name, a grandmother’s proverb that turns out to be true, or a short fable told in two languages

Frequently asked questions

Is Tales and Storytelling 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 Tales and Storytelling the same as Storytelling?

They are close in spirit, since both are spoken storytelling classes, but they are separate items in eTalenter. Tales and Storytelling is the discipline in the Francophone Games programme, with one storyteller aged 18 to 35 and an optional musician. Storytelling is the title used by school and community festivals.

How long may a tale run?

The programme’s general rules do not print a time limit for this discipline, and the template installs none. The limit sits in the discipline’s own rules, which eTalenter does not hold, so a coordinator should set it in the registration notes.

Can the storyteller use a musician?

Yes. The rules allow one storyteller, with a musician if needed, and the age limit applies to the storyteller only, not to the musician.

How is a tale marked?

The printed rules give no criteria and no marks. The template installs the item out of 100 so a coordinator can set the sheet; the Games itself ranks three winners and two mentions by jury decision and awards gold, silver and bronze.

Who can enter the Games’ version of this discipline?

Entry is through a member state or government, after a national pre-selection, and only for artists over 18 and under 35 during the Games. A school or club running the same class can set its own age band.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full speech and storytelling judging criteria guide, or browse every oral competition item.