Cultural & Folk Festival · North America & Caribbean
The Ministry of Education’s national schools Soca song competition of Trinidad and Tobago, with Primary (Junior) and Secondary (Senior) categories judged on melody, lyrics, rendition, arrangement and performance.
Sets up a national-style schools Soca song competition: one solo song item, a Primary Junior and a Secondary Senior category, and the published 100-point scheme of melody, lyrics, rendition, arrangement and performance.
This template rebuilds the structure of a national schools Soca song competition from the Caribbean, so a coordinator opens an event that already carries the real categories, the single competition item and the published marking scheme instead of a blank catalogue. It suits a school, a district music festival or a youth arts programme that wants to run a solo song contest in the Soca genre, at any size.
There is one competition item, Soca Song, and it is a solo entry: the artiste is the entry that registers and is scored. The source rules allow a small supporting cast on stage, up to three back-up singers and a few dancers or actors, but they are not separate entries, so the template models one individual per entry in each category. The two categories are Primary Junior and Secondary Senior, open to both genders. The rules print only an upper age limit of 19 and no class bands, so the age ranges in the template (5 to 12 and 13 to 19) are an assumption you should adjust to match your own schools.
A performance is a Soca song of three to five minutes, sung to an instrumental track, with a ceiling of seven minutes on stage once set-up and striking props are counted. The template keeps that seven-minute limit. The competition runs as preliminaries followed by a final, so plan your schedule with two rounds and carry the qualifiers forward with the usual placing tools in the event.
Every entry is marked out of 100 by each adjudicator on the same five criteria in both categories: melody (25), lyrics (25), rendition (20), arrangement (10) and performance (20). The source ranks the top ten places in each category with cash prizes only and prints no placing points, so the ranks install with no bonus points. Penalties such as a late-arrival deduction and disqualification rules sit outside the template, so brief your judges and stewards on them separately. Use the Registration Page to collect entries and check each artiste’s date of birth before assigning a category.
Where this event comes from
Soca is a popular music genre that grew out of Trinidad and Tobago’s carnival tradition, and this competition places that genre in a schools setting.
Where this event is run
Trinidad and Tobago, as a national competition open to primary and secondary school students. The template follows that single-item, two-category format and suits any organiser who wants a school song contest judged on songwriting as well as singing. It is less suited to multi-item arts festivals, where many different items run in parallel across several age groups.
- Trinidad and Tobago (national schools competition)
Key facts
- 1 item, Soca Song, solo entry, both genders
- Two categories: Primary Junior and Secondary Senior (age bands are a platform assumption, as the rules print only an upper limit of 19)
- Song of 3 to 5 minutes to an instrumental track, up to 7 minutes on stage including set-up
- Marked out of 100: melody 25, lyrics 25, rendition 20, arrangement 10, performance 20
- Preliminaries followed by a final
- Top ten places per category printed, cash prizes only, so no placing points
- Age groups
- 2
- Competition items
- 1
- Competitions
- 2
- Grade bands
- 0
- Rank awards
- 10
Age groups
Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.
Primary Junior
Candidates aged 5 to 12 compete in this group
Secondary Sr
Candidates aged 13 to 19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Junior | |||||
| Music | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Soca Song | Individual | — | — | 100 | 7 min |
| Secondary Sr | |||||
| Music | |||||
| Item | Type | Gender | Language | Max score | Time limit |
| Soca Song | Individual | — | — | 100 | 7 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 | 0 | |
| Second | 0 | |
| Third | 0 | |
| Fourth | 0 | |
| Fifth | 0 | |
| Sixth | 0 | |
| Seventh | 0 | |
| Eighth | 0 | |
| Ninth | 0 | |
| Tenth | 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 software.
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.
