Derry Feis – Speech and Drama — A Feis Speech and Drama Section: Studied Prose, Character Study and Bible Reading by School Year

Speech & Drama · United Kingdom

Feis Dhoire Cholmcille’s Speech and Drama section (104th edition): 3 real classes (Studied Prose, Character Study, Prepared Bible Reading) across 10 real single-grade age bands, built from the feis’s own official 2026 syllabus.

A ready-made speech and drama section with three classes, Studied Prose, Character Study and Prepared Bible Reading, entered by school year from Primary 3 to Year 12 and above, with time limits from one minute to four minutes.

This template models the speech and drama section of a long-running open-platform feis in the north-west of Northern Ireland, held over several days in April. Children and teenagers stand alone before an adjudicator and deliver a short spoken piece. It is built from the feis’s published syllabus, so the three classes, the school-year ladder and the time limits are real, but dates, fees and entry conditions change every year and the current syllabus must be checked before the template is reused.

Three items are modelled. Studied Prose is an individual class in which a performer reads or recites a prose passage with understanding, and it is run as ten separate single-grade classes from Primary 3 to Year 12 and above. Prepared Bible Reading is an individual class in which the performer reads a chosen passage aloud with clear meaning and phrasing. Character Study is an individual class in which one performer builds and presents a single character. All three are open to boys and girls and are performed in English.

The three items do not share the same ladder in the source. Studied Prose has a class for every school year, one minute for Primary 3 and one and a half minutes from Primary 4 upward. Prepared Bible Reading and Character Study are each run as three undivided classes, Junior (Primary 5 to 7), Intermediate (Years 8 and 9) and Senior (Year 10 and above). The template therefore uses ten shared age groups and repeats each undivided class’s value across the finer groups it covers. Prepared Bible Reading allows one minute for Junior and one and a half minutes for the others; Character Study allows two and a half, three and four minutes.

The syllabus prints no points table that can be used as a criteria sheet, so every competition is scored out of a nominal 10 on a single mark, and the template ships no criteria or grades. Entry fees are set to zero so each organiser can add their own. Organisers should tell entrants beforehand how clarity, expression, understanding of the text and, for Character Study, characterisation will be weighed. Poetry, choral speaking, sight tests, public speaking and group drama are real parts of the section but are not part of this template.

Where this event comes from

The speech and drama section is one part of a long-running community feis whose open-platform competitions are held every spring.

Where this event is run

Competitive speech and drama festivals are a long-standing tradition in the United Kingdom, Ireland and countries with a similar school system, including Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada. Local arts societies, schools and drama teachers run smaller versions of the same format, with an adjudicator, a time limit by school year and a single mark per performance.

• United Kingdom
• Northern Ireland

Key facts

• Three competitions: Studied Prose, Character Study and Prepared Bible Reading, all individual
• Ten shared age groups, from Primary 3 through to Year 12 and above
• Open to boys and girls and performed in English
• Studied Prose time limits: one minute for Primary 3, one and a half minutes from Primary 4 upward
• Character Study allows two and a half to four minutes; Prepared Bible Reading one to one and a half minutes
• Scored out of a nominal 10 on a single mark, with no criteria or grades printed, and other speech families not modelled

Age groups

10

Competition items

3

Competitions

26

Grade bands

0

Rank awards

0

Age groups

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

Primary 3

6From

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7To

Candidates aged 6 to 7 compete in this group

Primary 4

8From

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8To

Candidates aged 8 to 8 compete in this group

Primary 5

9From

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9To

Candidates aged 9 to 9 compete in this group

Primary 6

10From

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10To

Candidates aged 10 to 10 compete in this group

Primary 7

11From

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11To

Candidates aged 11 to 11 compete in this group

Year 8

12From

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12To

Candidates aged 12 to 12 compete in this group

Year 9

13From

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13To

Candidates aged 13 to 13 compete in this group

Year 10

14From

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14To

Candidates aged 14 to 14 compete in this group

Year 11

15From

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15To

Candidates aged 15 to 15 compete in this group

Year 12 & above

16From

–

120To

Candidates aged 16 to 120 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Studied Prose

LiteraryMarks

Character Study

ActionMarks

Prepared Bible Reading

LiteraryMarks

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 mono act judging criteria guide.