COG Talent Test — A Church Youth Talent Test Template, Four Age Divisions Plus a Team Song

Talent Test · Sunday School

Church youth talent test with Teenage, Major, Seniors and Super Seniors divisions, covering solo, speech, essay, quiz and instrumental music.

Sets up a church youth talent test for teenagers and adults: separate male and female solo competitions, speech, essay, Bible quiz, verse writing, three instrumental music types and a team group song, across four age divisions from Teenage to Super Seniors.

This template sets up a youth-and-adult church talent test of the Young People’s Endeavour kind: a zonal or district gathering where teenagers, young adults and older members from many congregations compete in singing, speaking, writing, Bible knowledge and instrumental music. A coordinator opens an event that already carries the age divisions, the items, the participant types and the score limits, instead of building the schedule from a blank catalogue. It suits a zone that runs congregation rounds first and a combined final afterwards, and wants entries, judging sheets and results in one place.

There are four individual age divisions: Teenage (13 to 20), Major (21 to 30), Seniors (31 to 45) and Super Seniors (46 to 60). A fifth division, Common (15 to 45), is a team category that holds the single group item and is marked age-independent, so its entrants carry no age prefix on their codes. This is the adult shape of such a test; the same kind of body also runs a separate children’s Sunday school structure with younger groups, which is a different template.

Teenage, Major and Seniors run the full individual card: Solo, Speech, Essay, Bible Quiz, Verse Writing and three instrumental music items (Wind Type, String Type and Electronic Type). Solo is held as two separate competitions, one for male and one for female entrants, in every division. Super Seniors run a reduced card of Solo (male and female), Speech and Bible Quiz only. Common carries Group Song as a team entry open to both genders.

Every item is scored out of 10. Time limits are three minutes for Solo, Group Song and each instrumental item, five minutes for Speech and fifteen minutes for Essay and Verse Writing; the Bible Quiz has no set duration in the template. Grades are A at 7 and above, B at 5 and above and C at 3 and above, earning bonus points of 5, 3 and 1, and the placings First, Second and Third earn 5, 3 and 1 points. These grade bands are specific to this template and should not be copied to another event, because different bodies use different thresholds.

Where this event is run

Youth talent tests of this kind are run by church zones and districts, usually once a year, with each congregation fielding its strongest entrants and the winners moving on to a larger gathering. This template reproduces the pattern seen in a dozen such events that ran on eTalenter, so the divisions, items, time limits and grade bands are one working example rather than a universal standard. A coordinator can add, rename or remove items and divisions before the event.

• Kerala, India

Key facts

• Four individual divisions: Teenage (13-20), Major (21-30), Seniors (31-45) and Super Seniors (46-60), plus an age-independent Common team division (15-45).
• Solo is split into separate male and female competitions in all four individual divisions.
• Teenage, Major and Seniors run nine items each; Super Seniors run Solo, Speech and Bible Quiz only.
• Every item is scored out of 10; Solo, Group Song and the instrumental items allow 3 minutes, Speech 5, Essay and Verse Writing 15, and Bible Quiz has no set duration.
• Grades A, B and C at 7, 5 and 3 or above, with bonus points of 5, 3 and 1; placings First, Second and Third earn 5, 3 and 1 points.
• Item names are generic so any organisation can reuse the template, for example Bible Quiz for a scripture quiz and Verse Writing for written memory-verse work.

Age groups

5

Competition items

9

Competitions

32

Grade bands

3

Rank awards

3

Age groups

Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.

Teenage

13From

–

20To

Candidates aged 13 to 20 compete in this group

Major

21From

–

30To

Candidates aged 21 to 30 compete in this group

Seniors

31From

–

45To

Candidates aged 31 to 45 compete in this group

Super Seniors

46From

–

60To

Candidates aged 46 to 60 compete in this group

Common

15From

–

45To

Candidates aged 15 to 45 compete in this group

Competition items

The events themselves — each with the category it belongs to and how judges score it.

Solo

OralRating out of 10

Speech

OralRating out of 10

Group Song

OralRating out of 10

Instrumental Music - Electronic Type

OralRating out of 10

Bible Quiz

WrittenMarks

Essay

WrittenCount

Verse Writing

WrittenCount

Instrumental Music - String Type

ActionRating out of 10

Instrumental Music - Wind Type

ActionRating out of 10

Frequently asked questions

Can I change this template after installing it?

Yes — installing it creates a fully configured, live event, not a locked package. Every age group, competition item, rule and scoring setting can be edited afterwards to match exactly what your event actually needs.

Do I need technical knowledge to set this up?

No. Installing a template does the setup work for you; you only need to review the details (dates, unit or house names) and open registration.

Want the fuller picture first? See our guide to judge scoring and tabulation software.