Deepika Children’s League (DCL) Talent Fest — Seven Items, Three Divisions: A Kerala Children’s Talent Fest Template

Kalotsavam · Sunday School & Church

Deepika Children’s League’s Talent Fest for LP, UP and High School students (zone, province and state rounds): Speech, Light Song, Short Story, Poem and Essay Writing split boys and girls, plus the DCL Anthem and Anti-Drug Group Song as teams of seven.

A ready-made children’s talent fest for lower primary, upper primary and high school divisions: speech, light song, short story, poem and essay writing held separately for boys and girls, plus two group songs sung by teams of seven. Built for zone, province and state rounds, with places to Third.

This template models a children’s talent fest for Kerala that is organised by a newspaper’s children’s wing and built only from its own published notices for the 2025-26 editions. It has seven items: Speech, Light Song, Short Story Writing, Poem Writing, Essay Writing, and two group songs, an event anthem and an anti-drug song. Five of the seven are individual items held separately for boys and girls. The two group songs are team items, sung live by a team of seven with no karaoke, and are open to boys and girls together.

Children compete in three divisions: LP (lower primary), UP (upper primary) and High School. The notices name the divisions but print no ages, so the template uses the usual Kerala school sections as ages: LP classes 1-4 as ages 6-9, UP classes 5-7 as ages 10-12 and High School classes 8-10 as ages 13-15. Individual items and group songs are kept in separate groups, giving six groups in all (LP, UP and High School, each for individuals and for teams). An organiser whose entrants are sorted by class rather than by age should adjust the age ranges to match before opening registration.

Time limits come from the notices. Speech runs three minutes in the LP division and five minutes in the UP and High School divisions; two topics are published for each division and the topic is drawn by lot at the contest. The three writing contests (short story, poem and essay) are allowed one hour each. Light Song and the two group songs have no printed time limit, so none is installed. No language is printed for any item, so every item is set to any language, and each item is scored out of 100 on the platform.

The notices print no judging criteria, mark bands or points for places, so none are installed: First, Second and Third are set up for both individuals and teams with no points. The notices also describe three rounds, zone, province and state, with the top finishers of one round moving to the next. This template carries a single round’s programme, so an organiser running several rounds would normally set up one event for each round and carry the qualifiers across. Fees, the one-child-or-team-per-branch limit, the two-category limit per child, the exclusion of writing-contest children from the group songs, the published speech topics and the overall champion titles are not modelled; organisers set those in their own notices and event settings.

Where this event is run

A fest that mixes speech, light music and the three writing forms for school-age children in lower primary, upper primary and high school divisions is a familiar pattern in Kerala, where talent fests run by newspapers, churches and community groups often follow the school sections and separate boys from girls. Moving winners from a local round through a regional round to a state round is also common in these programmes. This template reflects one such children’s fest, so its seven items, three divisions and boys-and-girls split describe that fest only; other organisers would normally change the items, add judging criteria and set their own points.

• India (Kerala)

Key facts

• Seven items: Speech, Light Song, Short Story Writing, Poem Writing and Essay Writing (individual), plus an anthem and an anti-drug group song (team)
• Three divisions: LP (ages 6-9), UP (10-12) and High School (13-15), with the ages taken from the usual Kerala school sections because the notices print none
• Individual items are held separately for boys and girls; the two group songs are sung by a team of seven with no karaoke
• Speech lasts 3 minutes in LP and 5 minutes in UP and High School, with the topic drawn by lot; the writing contests are allowed one hour
• Each item is scored out of 100 on the platform, but the notices print no judging criteria or points; First, Second and Third are installed with no points
• Fees, per-branch entry limits, speech topics and the zone, province and state round structure are not included

Age groups

6

Competition items

7

Competitions

36

Grade bands

0

Rank awards

6

Age groups

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

LP Individual

6From

–

9To

Candidates aged 6 to 9 compete in this group

UP Individual

10From

–

12To

Candidates aged 10 to 12 compete in this group

HS Individual

13From

–

15To

Candidates aged 13 to 15 compete in this group

LP Group

6From

–

9To

Candidates aged 6 to 9 compete in this group

UP Group

10From

–

12To

Candidates aged 10 to 12 compete in this group

HS Group

13From

–

15To

Candidates aged 13 to 15 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Speech (പ്രസംഗം)

LiteraryMarks

Light Song (ലളിതഗാനം)

MusicMarks

Short Story Writing (ചെറുകഥാരചന)

Creative WritingMarks

Poem Writing (കവിതാരചന)

Creative WritingMarks

Essay Writing (ഉപന്യാസരചന)

Creative WritingMarks

DCL Anthem (ഡിസിഎൽ ആന്തം)

MusicMarks

DCL Anti-Drug Group Song (ലഹരിവിരുദ്ധ സംഘഗാനം)

MusicMarks

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 talent test management software.