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Iowa State Fair Bill Riley Talent Search — A State Fair Talent Search: Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and Other Acts in Two Age Divisions

Iowa State Fair Bill Riley Talent Search: Iowa State Fair Bill Riley Talent Search: local shows feed the State Fair final. Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and...

e By Luke Justin October 29, 2026 3 min read

New here? Start with the basicsAge groups, competition categories and how to set up your event.

Talent Test · Community Talent Show

Iowa State Fair Bill Riley Talent Search: local shows feed the State Fair final. Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and Other acts, as solos or groups of up to five, in two divisions (Sprouts 2-12 and Seniors 13-21) with a 3-minute limit, built from the fair’s own rules.

A ready-made fair talent search with four talent types (Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and Other), each entered as a solo or as an act of up to five people, in a Sprouts division (ages 2 to 12) and a Seniors division (ages 13 to 21), every act held to three minutes.

This template models a talent search run by a United States state fair in Iowa, where local shows across the state each pick winners who go on to the fair’s own stage. It is built from the search’s 2026 local show rules and guidelines, so the divisions, the talent types and the three-minute limit are real, but the rules should be checked again before the template is reused for a later year.

Acts are sorted by the kind of talent: Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and Other, where Other covers things such as a magician, martial arts or a hula hoop routine. The rules ask local shows to record this type for scheduling, so each type is one competition. An act has at most five people, so every division is split into a Solo group for individual entries and an Act group for team entries, giving four groups in all.

Two divisions are printed exactly: Sprouts for ages 2 to 12 and Seniors for ages 13 to 21. At the State Fair, age is fixed on the day an act wins its local show. Each act has three minutes, set-up time not counted, with the clock starting when the music starts.

The rules print no judging criteria with marks and no point values for placings, so the template scores every competition out of 100 on a single mark and ships no criteria sheet. The over-time deduction, the five-person limit, the one-act-per-contestant rule, the professional ban and the sit-out rule for past champions have no software field; publish them as written rules on the registration page if you want them followed.

Where this event is run

Fair talent searches are a long-standing feature of state and county fairs across the United States, usually run as a chain of local shows whose winners meet in a final on the fairground stage, with age divisions and a strict time limit per act. Schools, libraries and town festivals run smaller versions of the same format.

United States

Key facts

Four competitions by talent type: Vocal, Dance, Instrumental and Other Talent
Two divisions: Sprouts (ages 2 to 12) and Seniors (ages 13 to 21), each with a Solo group and an Act group, four groups in all
An act is a solo or a team of up to five people; open to boys and girls, in any language
Three-minute limit per act, set-up time not counted; warning times are not printed and are set to zero
Scored out of 100 on a single mark; no per-criterion marks, grades or ranks are printed
Over-time deductions, the five-person cap, the professional ban and champion sit-out rules are not modelled

Age groups: 4
Competition items: 4
Competitions: 16
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.

Sprouts Ages 2-12 Solo

2From

–

12To

Candidates aged 2 to 12 compete in this group

Seniors Ages 13-21 Solo

13From

–

21To

Candidates aged 13 to 21 compete in this group

Sprouts Ages 2-12 Act

2From

–

12To

Candidates aged 2 to 12 compete in this group

Seniors Ages 13-21 Act

13From

–

21To

Candidates aged 13 to 21 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Competitions by group

The full schedule matrix, sectioned by age group then category — which item runs for whom, and for how long.

Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Sprouts Ages 2-12 Solo
Music
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Vocal	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Instrumental	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Dance
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Dance	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Others
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Other Talent	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Seniors Ages 13-21 Solo
Music
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Vocal	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Instrumental	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Dance
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Dance	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Others
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Other Talent	Individual	—	—	100	3 min
Sprouts Ages 2-12 Act
Music
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Vocal	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Instrumental	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Dance
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Dance	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Others
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Other Talent	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Seniors Ages 13-21 Act
Music
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Vocal	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Instrumental	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Dance
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Dance	Team	—	—	100	3 min
Others
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Other Talent	Team	—	—	100	3 min

Grades and ranks

How scores turn into grade bands, and how many points each placing is worth.

Grade	For	Condition	Score	Points

Rank	For	Points

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.