Written items are the quietest competitions on an arts fest schedule and the hardest to defend afterwards. Nobody watches them happen, the panel judges alone with a pile of scripts hours after the hall has emptied, and when a parent asks why their child placed third there is no performance to point at — only marks. That is exactly why the criteria for judging an essay writing competition and a story writing competition have to be written down before the first script is collected. This guide gives two sample marking schemes with weightage — one for essay, one for story writing — a printable evaluation sheet, a deduction table, a judge-facing method, sample topics by age group, and the rules that decide the arguments before they start.

Essay and story writing are not the same competition

Most item lists put “Essay Writing” and “Story Writing” side by side in the same category and then hand the panel one rubric for both. It does not work. An essay is judged on whether the writer said something true and said it in order; a story is judged on whether the writer made something up that holds together. Originality is worth a great deal in one and almost nothing in the other — an essay full of invention is simply wrong.

• Essay writing — a given topic, argued or explained. The heads that matter are relevance to the topic, content and depth of thought, structure and coherence, and command of language.
• Story writing — a given theme, opening line or picture, developed into a narrative. The heads that matter are plot and imagination, characterisation, narrative craft, and language.
• Poetry writing (kavitha rachana, versification) — a third thing again, judged on imagery, rhythm and economy. If your fest runs it, run it as its own competition with its own rubric; do not fold it in here.

Split them in the item list, and split them by language too. Essay writing in Malayalam, English and Hindi are three separate competitions with three separate results, because a judge who reads one language fluently cannot rank a script in another against it. This matters more in written items than anywhere else on your schedule: language is the medium being marked.

Essay writing competition judging criteria: a sample marking scheme (100 marks)

Publish this scheme with the rules before entries close, so a student preparing knows that staying on the topic and organising the argument together carry 45 marks, and that a beautifully handwritten script about the wrong subject will not place.

Criterion	Weightage	What the judge looks for	What pulls marks down
Relevance to the topic	20	The script answers the topic that was set, and keeps answering it to the last paragraph	A memorised essay on a neighbouring subject bent to fit; an opening that addresses the topic and a body that drifts
Content, ideas & depth of thought	25	Real substance — examples, evidence, a point of view the writer has actually thought about	Slogans and generalities; the same idea restated four times to fill the page
Structure, coherence & flow	20	A clear introduction, a body that moves in an order, a conclusion that closes what the opening promised; paragraphs that follow one another	One unbroken block of text; a conclusion unrelated to the argument; ideas in the order they occurred to the writer
Language, grammar & vocabulary	20	Correct sentences, controlled tense and agreement, vocabulary suited to the age group, punctuation used rather than sprinkled	Repeated grammatical errors; borrowed phrases the writer plainly cannot use; spelling that obstructs meaning
Originality of expression	10	The writer’s own voice — a fresh angle, an image or an argument the panel has not read four times that morning	Guidebook openings and copied quotations passed off as the writer’s own
Presentation, handwriting & neatness	5	Legible handwriting, clean margins, corrections struck once and moved on from	A script the panel has to decipher; heavy overwriting and scribbling out
Total	100

Note the deliberately small handwriting head. Five marks is enough to reward a legible script without letting penmanship decide a writing competition — and it protects the child with untidy handwriting and the better argument. If your event genuinely wants to reward handwriting, run a handwriting competition; do not let it quietly win the essay.

Story writing competition judging criteria: a separate rubric

For story writing, imagination moves to the front and relevance becomes a lighter head — the theme is a starting point, not a question to be answered. This is the scheme to hand a panel reading narrative scripts.

Criterion	Weightage	What the judge looks for	What pulls marks down
Plot, imagination & originality	25	An invented situation that goes somewhere; a turn the reader did not expect; a story that could only have come from this writer	A retold film or folk tale submitted as original work; a moral announced in the last line with no story before it
Development of theme & structure	20	A beginning that sets something up, a middle that complicates it, an ending that resolves it inside the word limit	A long build with no ending because the time ran out; “then I woke up and it was a dream”
Characterisation	15	Characters who want something and behave consistently; dialogue that sounds like a person speaking	Names attached to nobody; every character speaking in the writer’s own voice
Language, style & narrative craft	20	Sentences that carry the story; description used where it does work; controlled tense and point of view	Tense and narrator switching mid-paragraph; adjectives instead of events
Relevance to the given theme or opening line	15	The theme, picture or first line genuinely shapes the story	A pre-written story with the theme grafted onto the first paragraph
Presentation, handwriting & neatness	5	Legible, clean, within the word limit	Illegible passages; a title page consuming a quarter of the answer sheet
Total	100

Printable essay & story writing evaluation sheet

Print one sheet per judge per script. Because written items are judged away from the stage, the sheet is the only record that exists — there is no performance anybody can recall three days later when a re-evaluation is requested. The two maximum-marks columns let one printed sheet serve both items; strike out the column you are not using before you start reading.

Criterion	Max (Essay)	Max (Story)	Marks awarded	Judge’s remarks
Relevance to topic (Essay) / Plot & imagination (Story)	20	25
Content & depth of thought (Essay) / Theme development & structure (Story)	25	20
Structure & coherence (Essay) / Characterisation (Story)	20	15
Language, grammar & vocabulary	20	20
Originality of expression (Essay) / Relevance to given theme (Story)	10	15
Presentation, handwriting & neatness	5	5
Less: word limit / rule deductions	–	–
Total	100	100

Leave a footer line for Item · Language · Age group · Script code · Topic or theme set · Word count · Judge’s name · Signature · Date. Record the script code, never the participant’s name — that single discipline is what makes a written result defensible.

Collecting and coding the scripts: the part everyone gets wrong

Stage items are anonymous by accident — the panel sees a chest number and knows nothing else. Written items are the opposite: unless you take steps, every script arrives carrying the writer’s name, school or unit in the writer’s own handwriting. Build the anonymity in deliberately:

1. Issue stamped answer sheets. Every participant writes on paper issued and stamped by the organizing committee at the start of the session. It settles the “was this written here?” question permanently.
2. Write the chest number, nothing else. Announce it before the clock starts: no name, no school, no unit, no house, no distinguishing mark anywhere on the script.
3. Code the scripts before they reach the panel. A person who is not judging replaces the chest number with a running code and keeps the mapping. Judges receive coded scripts only.
4. Shuffle before distributing. Scripts collected in seating order arrive in unit order. Shuffle so one unit’s entries are not read consecutively.
5. Every judge reads every script. Splitting a pile between two judges to save time produces two incomparable scales and one indefensible result. If the entry is large, use a prelim round to shortlist, then have the full panel read the shortlist.
6. Decode only after every mark is in. Totals first, names second — in that order and never the reverse.

Deductions, disqualification and the rules that cause arguments

Apply deductions through the item in-charge, not the judges. If three judges each dock the same overlong script, one breach is punished three times over.

Breach	Suggested deduction	Applied by
Under or over the published word limit by up to 10%	2 marks	Item in-charge
Beyond 10% of the word limit	5 marks	Item in-charge
Script continues after time is called	2 marks	Invigilator
Name, school, unit or any identifying mark on the script	5 marks, or as published	Item in-charge, before coding
Written in a language other than the one entered	Entry declared out of category	Organizing committee
Reference material, phone or prepared notes in the hall	Disqualification	Invigilator
Copied or plagiarised work, or a pre-written script substituted	Disqualification	Organizing committee, on the panel’s written note
Written on paper not issued by the committee	Entry not accepted	Invigilator

Two rules are worth writing with unusual care. The first is the word limit: state it as a range (say 300–400 words for upper primary, 500–700 for high school) rather than a ceiling, so nobody wins by writing three times as much as everyone else. The second is plagiarism. A panel that suspects copied work should note it on the sheet and hand the decision to the committee — a judge who quietly awards 20 marks instead of reporting it has made an accusation nobody can appeal.

How to judge an essay or story writing competition, step by step

Handing a panel a rubric is not the same as briefing it. Written items are read over hours, often by one person alone at a desk, and the scale drifts unless the method holds it steady.

1. Read three or four scripts before marking anything. Skim a handful first to find the range of the entry, then go back and start scoring. The first script read should not set the standard by accident.
2. Score criterion by criterion, not by impression. Give the relevance mark, then content, then structure, then language. Judges who decide “this is a 78” and split it backwards produce halo scores — one striking paragraph lifting every head on the sheet.
3. Read the whole script before the first mark goes down. Essays are frequently won in the last paragraph and lost in the first; a mark set on page one is hard to move on page three.
4. Separate handwriting from writing. This is the single hardest discipline in written items. An untidy script reads as a weaker script long before you have judged a word of it, which is precisely why presentation is capped at 5.
5. Mark language against the age group, not against an adult. A ten-year-old writing correct, simple sentences is doing what the rubric asks. Reaching for vocabulary they cannot control is not.
6. Write one line of remarks per script. It takes fifteen seconds, it disciplines the mark, and it is the only thing that answers a re-evaluation request.
7. Apply the published tie-break, don’t invent one. A workable order for essay is higher content marks, then structure, then language; for story, higher plot and imagination, then narrative craft. Publish it with the rules; a tie found at tabulation is far too late to be choosing a rule.

Adjust the rubric by age group

Keep the same heads across every age group so tabulation, grades and unit points stay comparable, and shift the weightage and the limits instead:

• LP (lower primary) — if you run written items this young at all, keep them short: 45 minutes, 150–200 words, a picture or a first line rather than an abstract topic. Move 5 marks from originality into language and expect correct simple sentences.
• UP (upper primary) — 60 minutes, 300–400 words. The printed schemes work with content reduced by 5 marks in favour of language. Reward a script that stays on the topic from beginning to end.
• HS (high school) — 60–90 minutes, 500–700 words. Use the schemes as printed. Depth of thought and structure become genuinely separable here.
• HSS and above / youth and open categories — 90 minutes, 700–1,000 words. Raise content and originality by 5 marks each, taking them from presentation. At this level an argument that takes a position and defends it should beat a competent summary of the obvious.
• Junior, Intermediate, Senior groupings — church, club and association events using named age bands rather than school classes map onto the same tiers, as do club events using numbered groups. What matters is that every script inside one band is read on one identical sheet.

Sample topics and themes to set

Topics are announced on the day, in the hall, after the participants are seated — that is the whole integrity of a written item. Prepare a sealed set, and have a spare in case one leaks. Set the topic in the language of the competition.

• Essay, upper primary — a day I will not forget; if I could change one thing in my school; the person I learned the most from; why my town needs more trees.
• Essay, high school — what social media has done to friendship; is competition good for students; the value of a language nobody else speaks; who is responsible for a cleaner city.
• Essay, higher secondary and open — the cost of always being reachable; can technology teach a child; what a community owes its elderly; growing up between two cultures.
• Story writing, given a theme — the lost key; a promise kept twenty years late; the shop that only opened at night; the last bus home.
• Story writing, given an opening line — “Nobody expected the letter to arrive that morning.” “The rain had not stopped for eleven days.” Give the line and require the story to begin with it.
• Story writing, given a picture — project or print one image per age group and let the story come from it. This is the fairest prompt for younger children, and the hardest to prepare for in advance.

Publish alongside the topics the rules participants keep asking about: the time allowed, the word range, whether dictionaries are permitted, whether the script must be in ink, whether rough work is on the same sheet, and which languages have separate competitions. Say it once in the rules and you will not be arguing it in the hall.

Setting written competitions up in eTalenter

On paper this is two rubrics, six criteria each, multiplied by every script, every judge, every language and every age group — scored days after the event, with deductions arriving from the item in-charge separately from the marks. In eTalenter you set essay writing and story writing up as their own judged Arts competitions, enter these criteria with their weightage, and assign each competition to the age groups, languages and gender categories you actually run, with participation type set to Individual and a maximum number of entries per unit.

From there each judge scores the same rubric on their own device against the chest number, so the panel never sees a name; the system totals, averages across the panel, applies your grades and points, rolls points up to houses, schools or units, and flags ties for you to settle by your published rule. You review results, assign ranks and awards, publish online or to the podium display, and print certificates and trophy stickers from the same marks. Where the item runs at several levels — school to sub-district to district, or unit to zone to state — winners promote upward and results cascade to the next round instead of being retyped.

Read how the panel and tabulation work in our judge scoring and tabulation guide, take the ready tables from the judges’ score sheet template, and compare the rubric for the spoken sibling of this item in our elocution and speech competition judging criteria. When the marks are in, our guide to publishing competition results online covers what happens next.

Frequently asked questions

What are the criteria for judging an essay writing competition?

A widely used set is relevance to the topic, content and depth of thought, structure and coherence, language and grammar, originality of expression, and presentation — commonly weighted 20/25/20/20/10/5 out of 100. For story writing, replace relevance and content with plot and imagination (25) and theme development (20), and add characterisation (15). Publish the criteria, the weightage and the word limit with the rules before entries close.

How much should handwriting count in a writing competition?

Five marks out of a hundred is enough. Legibility deserves credit because an unreadable script cannot be judged, but handwriting is a separate skill from writing, and weighting it heavily hands the result to penmanship. Cap it at 5, brief the panel that untidy handwriting must not depress the language mark, and run a separate handwriting competition if that skill matters to your event.

Should the judges know whose script they are reading?

No. Issue stamped answer sheets, require the chest number and nothing else on the script, have a non-judging official replace the numbers with codes, shuffle the pile, and decode only after every mark is recorded. Written items are the easiest competitions on the schedule to make genuinely anonymous, and the easiest to leave accidentally identifiable.

Use these rubrics at your next competition

Copy the marking schemes and the evaluation sheet above into your rules, or set them up once in eTalenter and let the panel score against coded chest numbers while totals, deductions, grades, ranks, house points and certificates come out at the other end. Explore eTalenter’s competition management software, message us on WhatsApp, or write to support@etalenter.com and we will configure the judging criteria for every item on your schedule — stage and written alike.