Rules and Roles

Video submission: any time from 10 February to 8 April 2025. Late submissions will NOT be accepted.
Schools will be grouped for adjudication through a computerised lottery system.
The judging will be conducted from mid-April to May 2025. The results will be announced on the e-platform. Winning schools will be informed of their results by email, and a letter will be sent to their principals.
The first prize winner of each session will be invited to perform in the Prize-giving Celebration, which will be held in June.

Step 1

The video should be in MP4 format.

Step 2

Title the video, e.g. ABC Primary School_The Three Little Pigs.

Step 3

Upload your school’s video to a folder in your school’s Google Drive.

Step 4

Submit the link via the NET Section’s Video Entry Submission Form.

(to be provided in due course)

Step 5

Please make sure that the link you shared is set to “anyone with the link”.

There should be no zooming in on the puppets while students’ performance is being video recorded; the camera should be in a fixed position for the duration of the show.
Sound effects can only be used during the video-recording of students’ performance and not added afterwards.
The visual and sound quality should be good enough for adjudication purposes.
No post-production editing or addition of special effects/sound effects is permitted.
Entries should be one shot with no cuts or edits. (The video entry is supposed to represent a ‘live’ puppet show.)
Backdrops should be ‘real’. ‘Virtual’ backdrops, e.g. using a projector or green screen, are NOT permitted.

Remark: If schools do not follow the above rules, marks will be deducted.

Use the puppetry tent with real backdrops and props.
The tent may be borrowed from the NET Section (https://nets.edb.hkedcity.net/page.php?p=434) or your school may purchase one.
To support the campaign "Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom 2024/25," the puppetry competition this year encourages participating schools to integrate one of the campaign's sub-themes - "Resilience," "Empowerment," "Appreciation," and "Delight" - into their puppetry performances.
For samples of the final product of the winners’ videos, please refer to this link: https://nets.edb.hkedcity.net/page.php?p=466
Please take a photo of the performing students with their puppets in their hands and the two teacher coordinators.
The photograph should be shot right after the video shooting and submitted with the video in the Video Entry Submission Form.

Schools are encouraged to:

send the teacher(s) new to the puppetry competition to attend the professional development workshop on puppetry in October 2024 and the cluster meeting scheduled for November 2024 respectively.

Teachers will need to:

participate fully in all puppetry activities at the professional development workshop;
use what they have learnt to prepare their students for the competition.

Students will need to:

participate fully in any training sessions organised by their teachers in preparation for the competition; and
participate in the competition by staging and performing a 5 to 7-minute puppet show.

The Story to Stage Puppetry Competition Entry Form must be submitted by 15 November 2024. Late applications will NOT be accepted.
Certificates of Appreciation will be distributed to participating schools at the end of the competition.

Each school can enter multiple teams, but each entry must be unique, featuring a different storyline, set of characters, and other distinguishing elements.
If our judges consider that two entries from the same school are too similar (same characters/same storyline/similar storyline with small adjustments), both entries will be invalidated.
The decision of the adjudicators will be considered final.
The team must be made up of 3-5 students from either KS1, KS2, or a combination of both. All students involved should play a part in the performance.

The puppet show should be 5-7 minutes in length.
For shows that run over the time limit, 10 marks will be deducted for every minute or part of a minute exceeding the allowed performance time.
Shows that are shorter than 5 minutes may suggest inadequate script development, potentially impacting scores in the Language aspect of the judging criteria.