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Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy – Folk Presentations (Trinidad and Tobago) — Forty Folk Categories, One Open Village Group

Prime Minister's Best Village Trophy - Folk Presentations (Trinidad and Tobago): The Ministry of Culture's national village competition for folk dance,...

e By Luke Justin October 23, 2026 3 min read

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

Cultural & Folk Festival · North America & Caribbean

The Ministry of Culture’s national village competition for folk dance, folk music, literature and dramatic literature in Trinidad and Tobago, with printed adjudication marks for each category.

Sets up a national village folk competition: 40 team categories across folk music, folk dance, literature and dramatic literature, each with its printed 100-point adjudication table.

This template builds a national village folk competition modelled on the Prime Minister’s Best Village Trophy Competition run by the Ministry of Culture and Community Development of Trinidad and Tobago. Its Folk Presentations section has four parts: Folk Music, Folk Dance, Literature and Dramatic Literature. A coordinator opens an event that already holds all forty categories instead of a blank catalogue.

Entries come from villages and community groups, so the template uses a single open group with team entries. Even the categories named as solos, such as Original Calypso or Pan Solo, are entered by a village group, so they are team items here. The published rules print no age limits, so the age range is a working assumption you can narrow.

Folk Music covers traditional specials (Chutney Song, East Indian Devotional Song, Parang), solos, a contemporary solo pair, five chorale categories and three instrumental items: Pan Solo, Drumology and Tassa. Folk Dance has twelve traditional-influenced and six contemporary-influenced categories, each needing at least six dancers. Literature and Dramatic Literature add Short Story Performance, Poetry Spoken Word, Village Chat and four ten-minute playlets.

Every printed points table totals 100, and the template installs the table the rules assign to each category. Two categories, Local Fusion and African Devotional Song, have no printed table, so they carry no criteria. Placing points, entry caps per group, overall-champion eligibility and time-frame penalties are not modelled; the Ministry may also change which categories are offered each year, so re-check its current rules before you run an event.

Where this event comes from

The village competition is a long-running national programme of the Ministry of Culture and Community Development; this template follows its 2025 Folk Presentations rules.

Where this event is run

Trinidad and Tobago, where villages and community groups compete in folk music, dance and drama. It also suits any organiser running a community or regional folk competition where groups, not individuals, enter many differently judged categories. It is not suited to an individual-entry school festival.

Trinidad and Tobago

Key facts

40 categories in total: 15 folk music, 18 folk dance, and 7 literature and dramatic literature
One open group of village and community teams; no age limits are printed, so the range is an assumption
Minimum sizes printed in the rules: choral entries 6 singers, Parang 8 (4 vocalists), Tassa 4, Drumology 6, dance 6
Playlets run to ten minutes with a cast of 6 to 15; Village Chat is a five-person panel
Every installed scoring table totals 100 marks; Local Fusion and African Devotional Song have no printed table
Entry caps, champion eligibility, penalty deductions and placing points are not modelled

Age groups: 1
Competition items: 40
Competitions: 40
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.

Open Village

5From

–

99To

Candidates aged 5 to 99 compete in this group

Competition items

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

Show all 40 items

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
Open Village
Music
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Chutney Song	Team	—	—	100	—
East Indian Devotional Song	Team	—	—	100	—
Parang	Team	—	—	100	—
Original Calypso	Team	—	—	100	—
Folk Song Solo	Team	—	—	100	—
Trinidad and Tobago Reggae	Team	—	—	100	—
Local Fusion	Team	—	—	100	—
Spiritual Song	Team	—	—	100	—
Nation Patriotic Medley	Team	—	—	100	—
Folk Medley	Team	—	—	100	—
East Indian Folk Medley	Team	—	—	100	—
African Devotional Song	Team	—	—	100	—
Pan Solo	Team	—	—	100	—
Drumology	Team	—	—	100	—
Tassa	Team	—	—	100	—
Dance
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Traditional East Indian Devotional Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional African Devotional Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional Calypso Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Limbo	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional Bele, Pique and Beguine Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional Joropo, Galleron and Maypole Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional British Influenced Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional First People Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional East Indian Influenced Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Traditional African Influenced Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Chutney Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Dragon, Lion, Ribbon, Fan, Lantern, Belly and Dabke Dances	Team	—	—	100	—
Spiritual Liturgical Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
National Patriotic Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Soca Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Creative Freestyle	Team	—	—	100	—
Local Interpretative Dance	Team	—	—	100	—
Social Dances	Team	—	—	100	—
Literary
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Short Story Performance	Team	—	—	100	—
Poetry Spoken Word	Team	—	—	100	—
Oral
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Village Chat	Team	—	—	100	10 min
Drama
Item	Type	Gender	Language	Max score	Time limit
Anansi Playlet	Team	—	—	100	10 min
Carnival Character Playlet	Team	—	—	100	10 min
Ceremonies and Customs Playlet	Team	—	—	100	10 min
Folk Characters Playlet	Team	—	—	100	10 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.