• ENTRIES.
As many as THREE students from EACH GRADE LEVEL (grades 1, 2, and 3)
may be entered in the Storytelling District Contest from each
school. Designated adults representing each school will select
contestants to represent the campus at the District Meet based on their
abilities in recalling story information and creatively retelling it,
as well as other factors, which are decided upon by the individual
school.
• NATURE OF THE CONTEST.
Contestants in Storytelling hear a short story of about two-to-four
pages in length (approximately 1000 to 1200 words). Contestants
then retell the story before an audience and an odd number of judges
(one or three). The object is for students to demonstrate their
ability to speak before an audience, organize detail, and creatively
re-tell the story that they have just heard. The judge(s)
has/have not heard the story; therefore, they are not listening for
minute detail, but for expression, intonation, characterization, and
enthusiasm in the student’s voice as he/she speaks. Eye contact with
judge(s) and audience, posture, articulation, and effective, but not
overuse, of gestures are also important to the judging.
• WHAT HAPPENS IN THE
CONTEST.
1) The contest director will announce the time and place that
contestants and adults should report for receiving evaluations and the
announcement of contestants advancing to the final round.
2) All persons other than contestants will then be dismissed from the
room. If there are 6 or fewer contestants in the contest, only one
round is needed. If there are 7 or more contestants, up to
six students will be assigned to a section. The contest director
also serves as the reader for the section. Only the contestants
and the reader should be in the room when the story is read.
3) The Director/Reader shall read the story aloud to contestants, while
the Assistant Director keeps the hallway quiet.
4) Contestants shall then exit the room and be escorted to their
waiting area (which may be outside in the hall, but a room may be
better). The Assistant and/or the Director/Reader may assist in
organizing children.
5) The judge(s) may enter and make ready for the first
contestant. Because the PSIA events are meant to be
educational, audiences are welcome to the capacity of the room and
should enter the room quickly to avoid delay. Contestants,
however, must wait outside the room. Coaching students between
the time the story is read to them and their retelling of it is
prohibited. Once the first contestant is called in to speak, NO
ONE should enter or exit the room. Assistants, please assist
here. All cell phones, alarm watches and pagers must be turned
off during speech presentations. Failure to abide by this
audience rule may jeopardize the student’s ranking.
6) Contestants will be called into the room one at a
time according to their randomly arranged speaking order listed on the
roster.
7) Contestants will deliver their own versions of the
story that they heard read to them. Contestants may provide
gestures to express meaning, but they should not walk all around the
room. We suggest that coaches tape off a 6 foot by 6 foot square
and limit children’s movement to within that box during their
presentations.
8) If a single judge is judging the round, he/she
will complete each contestant’s evaluation and the ballot form and
submit these evaluations and ballots to the Contest Director or other
person in charge of the round. If a panel of three judges is
used, the Director/Reader may coordinate the tabulation of the judging
in the contest room, if time permits. If all judges judge the top
six contestants in the same order, then the section Director/Reader is
ready to complete the “Preliminary Results Form” or the “Final Results
Form,” depending on the round. If the judges do not agree on the
top winners, they shall, under the direction of the director or tabroom
official, use the “Ranking Procedures for Speech Contests” found on
pages 32-34 of the handbook (in the judging packets for each judge) and
proceed in the order indicated on these pages to determine the winners.
• PREPARATION FOR CONTEST.
Read and follow all instructions provided in the “Information
Pertaining to All Contests” section of the PSIA Academic
Handbook. Observe and practice with students all rules and
procedures delineated in the “Instructions to the Contestant” and in
the “Checklist for Contest Directors” and the”“Checklist for
Judges.” Preparation for the Storytelling Contest should include
multiple opportunities for the student to listen to short stories and
retell them to an audience. Training in the speech curriculum
provided by the school as it coordinates with the evaluation elements
of this contest is essential. The
evaluation sheet and a new short story are featured in the current PSIA Academic Handbook.
