Talent Test · Community Talent Show
New York State Fair Mini & Maxi Talent Showcase 2025: solo and group acts in two age divisions (12 and under, 13 and over) with a 5-minute limit, preliminary, semi-final and final rounds and ten placings, built from the fair’s own booklet.
A ready-made state fair talent show with a single open Talent Act competition, entered as a solo or a group in a Mini division (12 and under) and a Maxi division (13 and over), each act held to five minutes and placed from first to tenth.
This template models a youth talent showcase run as part of a United States state fair, where young performers take a large stage in front of a judging panel and a fairground audience. It is built from the showcase’s own 2025 booklet, so the divisions, the five-minute limit and the ten placings are real, but the rules should be checked again before the template is reused for a later year.
The booklet accepts acts of any kind, whether solo, duo, trio or group, and does not list separate classes: the entry form only asks for the type of act. That is why the template carries a single competition, Talent Act, rather than a list of singing, dance and instrument classes. To give every entry a real participant type, each division is split into a Solo group (individual entries) and a Group group (team entries), which gives four groups in all: Mini Solo, Maxi Solo, Mini Group and Maxi Group.
Entrants are divided by age on a fixed cut-off date: Mini is 12 and under and Maxi is 13 and over. No lowest age is printed, so the Mini bands start at 0 and the Maxi bands end at 99 as placeholders. A group is placed by the booklet’s 50 percent age rule rather than by each member’s age, so a coordinator has to place groups in a division by hand.
Each act, trios included, must not run longer than five minutes, and the printed rule is that an act over time is disqualified. The booklet prints placings from first to tenth for the final Mini and final Maxi contests, with ribbons for all ten, but it prints no judging criteria or marks, so the template scores acts out of 100 on a single mark. The preliminary, semi-final and final rounds, county qualification, the cap on performances per contestant and similar rules have no software field; publish them as written rules on the registration page if you want them followed.
Where this event is run
Youth talent showcases of this kind are a regular feature of state and county fairs across the United States, where a fairground stage hosts a long run of short acts through preliminary, semi-final and final rounds. Similar community talent shows are run by schools, libraries and town festivals, usually with a younger and an older division and a time limit per act.
- United States
Key facts
- One competition, Talent Act, entered as a solo or as a group of any size
- Two divisions: Mini (12 and under) and Maxi (13 and over), giving four groups: Mini Solo, Maxi Solo, Mini Group, Maxi Group
- Open to boys and girls; any type of performance, in any language
- Five-minute limit per act; warning times are not printed and are set to zero
- Placings from first to tenth are printed, with no points attached, so ranks carry zero bonus points
- The lowest age and the judging criteria are not printed; rounds, county qualification and the group age rule are not modelled
- Age groups
- 4
- Competition items
- 1
- Competitions
- 4
- Grade bands
- 0
- Rank awards
- 20
Age groups
Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.
Mini Solo
Candidates aged 0 to 12 compete in this group
Maxi Solo
Candidates aged 13 to 99 compete in this group
Mini Group
Candidates aged 0 to 12 compete in this group
Maxi Group
Candidates aged 13 to 99 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini Solo | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Talent Act | Individual | — | — | 100 | 5 min |
| Maxi Solo | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Talent Act | Individual | — | — | 100 | 5 min |
| Mini Group | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Talent Act | Team | — | — | 100 | 5 min |
| Maxi Group | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Talent Act | Team | — | — | 100 | 5 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 |
|---|---|---|
| First | Individual | 0 |
| Second | Individual | 0 |
| Third | Individual | 0 |
| Fourth | Individual | 0 |
| Fifth | Individual | 0 |
| Sixth | Individual | 0 |
| Seventh | Individual | 0 |
| Eighth | Individual | 0 |
| Ninth | Individual | 0 |
| Tenth | Individual | 0 |
| First | Team | 0 |
| Second | Team | 0 |
| Third | Team | 0 |
| Fourth | Team | 0 |
| Fifth | Team | 0 |
| Sixth | Team | 0 |
| Seventh | Team | 0 |
| Eighth | Team | 0 |
| Ninth | Team | 0 |
| Tenth | Team | 0 |
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.
Install this template in eTalenter
Everything above is installed as a live, editable event in one step — age groups, items, rules and scoring. Start your own below.
Start a New York State Fair Talent Showcase event
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