Conditions and Regulations

• The competition entry form must be submitted on or before the entry deadline.
• Competition regulations and organisation may change year to year so the teacher-in-charge of the competition should attend the Speak Up – Act Out Drama Competition Briefing Session (online) (see details above).
• There are four competition sessions. Schools may enter only one team as places are limited. If the competition is oversubscribed, entries will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.
• A Speak Up – Act Out Drama professional development workshop (6 hours) will be offered to teachers supporting students for the competition. The workshop focuses on using improvised drama techniques to devise a staged drama performance. Schools and teachers that have not participated in the SU-AO staged drama competition are strongly encouraged to attend the workshop.
• Teams must consist of four to six students, who are solely responsible for devising and performing a drama for the competition. The students may come from the same or different year levels.
• The online Team Name List must be submitted no later than 2 weeks before the competition session. Student No. 1 on the list will be the Team Leader on the day of the competition. Team Leaders will be asked to announce the title of the drama before the performance begins. The Team Name List will also be used to issue the certificates. Teachers are solely responsible for ensuring that names are spelled correctly and in the correct format. Replacement certificates will not be issued.  
• If a student is ill on the day of the competition, teams can choose to perform with the remaining students in the team or to find a replacement student as a stand-in. The full name of the replacement student must be provided at the registration table on the day of the competition.
• Certificates will be available for collection at the NET Section office in Tsuen Wan after the competition sessions. The teacher-in-charge will be notified by email when the certificates are ready for collection.

• The drama performance must be based on the given stimulus.
• The order teams perform in will be chosen by lucky draw at the competition session.
• No written scripts or notecards are allowed during the performance. 
• All students and teachers in a team must stay for the entire event, and no exceptions will be made. Teams that arrive late to the venue or after a break may be penalised.
• Upon arrival, students in each team will receive a label with a number based on their number on the team name list. The team leader should be No. 1. Students must wear their number so that it is visible to the judges during the performance. 
• All team members must perform in the drama and be involved equally, or almost equally, in the performance.
• 8 seats will be allocated to each team, including 2 for teachers. If teachers would like extra seats on top of this allocation, they must contact the NET Section in advance to check whether there are seats available at the venue.
• All team members must wear sports shoes, solid black T-shirts, and dark comfortable pants suitable for drama. Long hair should be tied back so that the judges can see the performers’ faces clearly.
• In order to encourage good dramatic development, only very brief narration (of five seconds or less on one or two occasions) is permitted.
• The time allowed for each performance is 4 – 5 minutes. Performances that are too short may not be considered for a prize. A warning bell will be rung once at 4 minutes and a final bell twice at 5 minutes. On the final bell, the student speaking may finish their sentence but then the performance must stop and the team must return to their seats.
• The focus is on improvised drama, so lighting effects, music, costumes, props, stage sets and make-up are not permitted. Two chairs will be provided for the performance. Standing on the chairs is not permitted.
• Teams must behave like a good theatre audience. They must be attentive and respectful, and mobile phones must be switched off. After one warning, teams may be penalised.
• A stimulus for the dramas will be sent to the teacher-in-charge by email approximately 2 weeks before each competition session. After receiving the stimulus, teachers should play a supervisory role and provide the following support:
  • Structure improvisations so that students can explore the stimulus and devise their drama “through play”.
  • Structure planning and reflection sessions, encouraging students to make their drama more interesting and entertaining by, for example, developing characters, action and dramatic elements like exposition, tension/conflict and dramatic climaxes.
• During the planning and reflection sessions, teachers can use various strategies like brainstorming, mapping out the plot, storyboarding, developing dialogue with short writing and viewing photos and videos of their improvisations.
• The decision of the judging panel is considered final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding adjudication.

The judging panels will include representatives from the EDB, drama instructors, and English teachers with a background in drama.

Student performances will be assessed on the criteria below: 

The full criteria can be found here.