In all the judging stages of the writing contest, the stories will be evaluated according to the criteria included in the provided Rubric, that can also be found on the Registration & Timeline page. As you can see the criteria against which the stories will be assessed consist of the following:
Rating Scale
Each of the aforementioned criteria will be assessed as per this rating scale.
1. Creativity. Evidence of originality, uniqueness and imagination.
2. Plot and Story Structure. Exposition, rising action, climax, clear falling action, resolution, plot twists, rhythm of the story, etc.
3. Setting, Characters, Conflict & Theme. How clear, well developed and embedded in the plot are they?
4. Organisation. Coherence in the point of view used in the narration, coherence and cohesion of ideas, use of paragraphs.
5. Expression. Use of vocabulary, sensory language, frequency of speech, use of narrative technique (e.g. varying short and long sentences), transitions, etc.
6. Accuracy. Correct use of grammar, sentence structure, dialogue punctuation and overall punctuation and spelling.
Students must take into consideration the following points when writing their stories. Failing to follow any of these guidelines will result in immediate disqualification.
Many points have been adapted from CBSE Budding Authors Programme 2022
Make sure that the wordcount of your story falls within the given word limit for your category.
Don't forget to fill out the Declaration of Originality included in the Story Submission Template, failing to do so will result in immediate disqualification.
Plagiarism is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. For those who don't know this word, plagiarism means copying.
All stories MUST BE ORIGINAL CREATIONS. DON’T USE copyrighted characters, settings, plots or ideas that belong to other people (for example, names of the characters from a book you like). EVERYTHING MUST COME FROM YOUR OWN CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION.
The use of any kind of AI (Artificial Intelligence) when writing your story is ALSO STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Please, avoid explicit content that contains overly-detailed or mature portrayals of:
violence (to people or animals)
unnecessary swearing words
physical relationships
self-harm
substance abuse
The submitted stories must not promote hate speech, discrimination, or intolerance based on sexual orientation, gender, race, religion or language.
Don't create a story designed to bully, marginalise, harass, insult, or attack specific individuals or groups.
Don’t use inaccurate fictionalised portrayals of real people (e.g. famous people living or dead, or historical figures).
Remember that you can add images or illustrations to your story ONLY IF:
You have created the images or illustrations yourself.
Someone has created the images or illustrations for you (for example, a friend, a relative, a teacher, etc.) and you have their permission to use them in your story.
The images or illustrations that you download from the internet are copyright free pictures, also known as royalty free images (for example, images that belong to the public domain).
If you use pictures from the internet, you must add at the end of your story all the links to the copyright free pictures that you have used. DON'T JUST DOWNLOAD PICTURES FROM GOOGLE.
What are copyright free or royalty free pictures?
Coypright free or royalty free pictures are images whose creator or owner has given permission for the pictures to be used freely by others. Many pictures that were created a very long time ago now belong to the public domain, which means that anyone can use them freely. However, even when you use one copyright free picture from the internet in your story, you must still add at the end of the story the link to the each picture that you have used.
If you need help finding copyright free pictures on the internet, check out the links listed below!
Open Access Galleries (Public Domain Images) from Libraries & Museums
davidrumsey.com (maps)
Clipart & Public Domain Pictures
