Literary Festival — Where Words Take the Stage

By

Luke Justin

Literary Festival

Literary Festival · General

Writing and speech competition across six age groups, covering essay, poetry, story writing, elocution and debate.

For organisers whose event leans on words rather than the stage – essay, poetry, story writing, elocution and debate across six age groups, with off-stage judging built in from the start rather than bolted on afterwards.

Literary Festival is eTalenter’s own starter template for a writing- and speech-led programme, distinct from a full arts festival that also mixes in music and dance – its own maintenance notes describe it as a pure literary/writing/speaking structure with no music or dance items. It bundles 9 competition items split into 5 on-stage/spoken items (Memory Test, Story Telling, Poem Recitation, Elocution, Spell Bee) and 4 off-stage/written items (Poem Writing, Essay Writing, Story Writing, Quiz). Every one of the 9 items runs as an Individual competition – a genuine structural contrast to eTalenter’s other generic starter templates such as School Arts Festival, which also carries several Team items – so a coordinator installing Literary Festival gets a purely individual-entry programme from the start.

The template ships with six age categories running from Kids (up to about 5) through Sub Junior, Junior, Senior, Super Senior, and Gents & Ladies (18 and up), and the item list itself narrows and widens by age rather than staying fixed. The youngest band, Kids, is offered only Memory Test plus Story Telling (run separately in English and Malayalam); Sub Junior keeps those two and adds Poem Recitation, Quiz, Spell Bee, Poem Writing and Story Writing, but not yet Elocution or Essay Writing. From Junior upward – Junior, Senior, Super Senior and Gents & Ladies all share the same seven-item set – Memory Test and Story Telling drop off the list and Elocution and Essay Writing join Poem Recitation, Quiz, Spell Bee, Poem Writing and Story Writing instead. Most of these items run as two separate same-item competitions per age band, one in English and one in Malayalam; Memory Test, Quiz and Spell Bee are the exceptions, each run once as a single language-open competition.

Every item is marked out of 100 except Quiz, which the template scores on eTalenter’s separate Points/Score scale rather than a marks sheet – a real distinction in how the platform records a quiz round versus a written or spoken item. On top of the per-item score, the template pre-loads a starting Grade scale (A/B/C, awarded at 6/5/4 and above with 5/3/1 bonus points) and a starting Rank scale (First/Second/Third, also worth 5/3/1 bonus points) for overall standings – both product defaults meant to be reviewed and adjusted, not fixed rules.

Because it carries no external rules document and is not modelled on any single real event, a coordinator is expected to edit the installed template before opening registration: trim or add items, correct the placeholder time limits and fees that ship with every row, and decide which language pairing suits their own entrants. That editability is the point of a starter template – it gets a words-first programme running the same day it is installed, rather than requiring a catalogue to be built from scratch.

Where this event is run

This is eTalenter’s own generic starter template, offered as a ready-made starting point for any event that wants a writing- and speech-led programme without the music and dance items a full arts festival carries – it is not tied to a particular school, country, or real-world named festival, and no such event in eTalenter’s own dataset is recorded as having installed it unmodified. As a format, a stand-alone literary/writing programme running essay, poetry, story writing, elocution and quiz-style items side by side is a familiar and long-standing fixture of school and community literary circles generally, which is the pattern this template is built to fit rather than any single institution’s programme.

  • Available wherever eTalenter’s literary-festival template is installed – no specific country or region is built into it
  • The stand-alone literary/writing programme format it reflects is common at schools and community literary circles generally, not confined to any one region

Key facts

  • 9 competition items across 6 age categories spanning early childhood through adult (“Gents & Ladies”)
  • Every item runs Individual only – no Team competitions anywhere in this template, unlike eTalenter’s other generic festival templates
  • 5 on-stage/spoken items (Memory Test, Story Telling, Poem Recitation, Elocution, Spell Bee) and 4 off-stage/written items (Poem Writing, Essay Writing, Story Writing, Quiz)
  • Marked out of 100 in every item except Quiz, which uses the platform’s separate Points/Score scale
  • Memory Test and Story Telling are offered only at the two youngest bands (Kids, Sub Junior); Elocution and Essay Writing only from Junior upward
  • Most items run as two separate same-item competitions per age band, one in English and one in Malayalam – Memory Test, Quiz and Spell Bee are the exceptions, run once as language-open
  • Ships with starting Grade (A/B/C) and Rank (First/Second/Third) scales, both meant to be reviewed before the event, not used as-is
Age groups
6
Competition items
9
Competitions
60
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.

  • Kids — ages 0 to 5
  • Sub Junior — ages 6 to 8
  • Junior — ages 9 to 11
  • Senior — ages 12 to 14
  • Super Senior — ages 15 to 17
  • Gents & Ladies — ages 18 to 99

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 Group Type Gender Max score Time limit
Memory Test Kids Individual Both 100 10m 10s
Story Telling Kids Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Story Telling Kids Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Memory Test Sub Junior Individual Both 100 10m 10s
Story Telling Sub Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Story Telling Sub Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Sub Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Sub Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Quiz Sub Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Spell Bee Sub Junior Individual Both 100 10m 10s
Poem Writing Sub Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Sub Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Sub Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Sub Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Elocution Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Elocution Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Junior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Quiz Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Spell Bee Junior Individual Both 100 10m 10s
Poem Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Junior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Elocution Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Elocution Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Quiz Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Spell Bee Senior Individual Both 100 10m 10s
Poem Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Elocution Super Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Elocution Super Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Super Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Super Senior Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Quiz Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Super Senior Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Elocution Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Elocution Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Poem Recitation Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 5m 10s
Quiz Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Poem Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Essay Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s
Story Writing Gents & Ladies Individual Both 100 60m 10s

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 judging criteria for speech and writing items.

Install this template in eTalenter

Everything above is installed as a live, editable event in one step — age groups, items, rules and scoring. Preview it below, then start your own.

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Luke Justin

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