Conditions and Regulations

• The ‘Stories on Stage’ Script Writing Competition is open only to secondary schools that have submitted an entry form for the ‘Stories on Stage’ Drama Competition. 
• Students must select a short story from the list provided on the entry form or a short story from the school-based curriculum that meets the criteria for the competition, e.g. the short story must be fictional, age-appropriate and adaptable for a staged performance.
• For the ‘Stories on Stage’ Script Writing Competition, each team must have two to four students.  
• Students in each team may come from the same or different year levels.
• A school that entered one team in the ‘Stories on Stage’ Drama Competition may enter up to eight students in the ‘Stories on Stage’ Script Writing Competition. These eight students can work in teams of two to four.
• A school that entered two teams in the ‘Stories on Stage’ Drama Competition may enter up to 16 students in the ‘Stories on Stage’ Script Writing Competition. These 16 students can work in teams of two to four.
• Each team must submit a drama script and the Pledge on or before the submission deadline.

• Two to four students in a team must collaborate on writing a drama script based on the short story selected for the competition.
• The length of the drama scripts must be suitable for a 5 to 8 minute drama performance.
• The drama script must be typed with a standard 12 pt. font, 1.15 line spacing and normal margins (top/bottom: 2.54 cm; left/right: 3.18 cm).
• The drama script must include a title and all pages should be numbered.
• The school name must NOT appear in the drama script.
• The drama script must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document.
• The Pledge must be signed by the contact teacher and submitted as a PDF file.

The judging panels will include representatives from the EDB, creative writing or drama instructors and front-line English teachers with a background in creative writing or drama.

Student drama scripts should follow the conventions of script writing and include:

• a cast of characters with a brief description of each character, e.g. gender, age, anything else essential to casting;
• stage directions to set the scene(s) and inform the director about the set, costumes, props, lighting, sound effects, special effects and how the actors exit, enter and move on the stage;
• stage directives in brackets to inform the director how the characters feel or act while they are speaking their lines; and
• lines of dialogue that express the thoughts, feelings and motivations of the characters and that move the action of the story forward.

Students will be assessed on the following criteria:

Note: The decision of the judging panels will be considered final. No correspondence will be entered into after the results are announced.