Jersey Eisteddfod – English, Speech and Drama — A Speech and Drama Festival Programme: Twelve Solo, Duo and Group Classes in Three Age Bands

Speech & Drama · Channel Islands & Gibraltar

The Jersey Eisteddfod’s English, Speech and Drama festival (~3,000 entries a year): 12 real classes (Group Repertoire, Duologue, Mime Solo/Duologue/Group, Group Dance-Drama, Dramatic Selection, Devised Work, One Act Play, Duo Recital, Duo News Reading, Solo Acting) across real Junior/Senior/Adult bands, built from the festival’s own official 2026 syllabus.

A ready-made island eisteddfod speech and drama section with twelve classes, from solo acting and mime to duologues, devised work and one act plays, entered across Junior, Senior and Adult bands with the printed time limit for every class.

This template models the English, Speech and Drama section of a long-running Channel Islands eisteddfod, a community festival where entrants perform in front of an adjudicator and receive a written report and a certificate. It is built from the festival’s own printed 2026 syllabus, so the class names and time limits are real, but the syllabus should be checked again before it is reused for a later year.

Twelve classes are modelled. Solo work is Mime Solo and Solo Acting. Pairs perform Duologue (Published), Mime Duologue, Duo Recital and Duo News Reading. Groups perform Group Mime, Group Dance-Drama, Group Repertoire, Dramatic Selection, Devised Work and One Act Play. Time limits run from two minutes for a junior duo news reading to 45 minutes for a one act play, and most group classes count the limit per head.

Entrants are grouped by age: Junior (12 and under), Senior (13 to 17) and Adult (18 and over). Not every class has all three bands. Group Repertoire, Group Dance-Drama, Dramatic Selection, Devised Work, One Act Play, Duo Recital, Duo News Reading and Mime Duologue run for Junior and Senior only, while Duologue, Mime Solo, Group Mime and Solo Acting also have an Adult band. Solo Acting is split into narrower Senior classes in the syllabus; the template uses the 15 to 17 values for the whole Senior band.

The festival marks with a seven-tier certificate scale and gives its named awards at a gala concert, not through numeric placings. That is not modelled here: each performance is scored out of 10 as a working convention, entry fees are installed as zero so each organiser sets their own, and the syllabus’s minimum performer counts for group classes are not enforced. A coordinator who wants the certificate tiers or special awards can publish them as written rules alongside the results.

Where this event comes from

The festival the syllabus comes from is a long-running Channel Islands event with roughly 3,000 entries a year across its performing and creative arts festivals.

Where this event is run

Mime, duologue, devised work and one act play classes are a regular part of amateur speech and drama festivals and eisteddfods across the British Isles, and similar classes appear in festivals in South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe and Canada. Drama schools and secondary schools also run them as end-of-term or inter-house competitions.

• Channel Islands
• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Twelve classes: 2 solo, 4 for pairs and 6 for groups
• Three age bands: Junior (12 and under), Senior (13-17), Adult (18 and over); several classes have no Adult band
• Time limits from 2 minutes (junior Duo News Reading) to 45 minutes (One Act Play)
• Group classes count time per head; the syllabus’s minimum cast sizes are not modelled
• Open to boys and girls; performed in English
• Scored out of 10 here as a working convention; the festival’s certificate tiers and gala awards are not modelled

Age groups

3

Competition items

12

Competitions

28

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.

Junior

6From

–

12To

Candidates aged 6 to 12 compete in this group

Senior (13-17)

13From

–

17To

Candidates aged 13 to 17 compete in this group

Adult

18From

–

120To

Candidates aged 18 to 120 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Group Repertoire

LiteraryMarks

Duologue (Published)

ActionMarks

Mime Duologue

ActionMarks

Mime Solo

ActionMarks

Group Mime

ActionMarks

Group Dance-Drama

ActionMarks

Dramatic Selection

ActionMarks

Devised Work

ActionMarks

One Act Play

ActionMarks

Duo Recital

LiteraryMarks

Duo News Reading

LiteraryMarks

Solo Acting

ActionMarks

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 guide.