Competition Information and Rules

As one of the activities in support of the Campaign on “Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes through English Sayings of Wisdom 2026/27”, the puppetry competition this year encourages participating schools to incorporate the following theme into their puppetry performance: “Caring Hearts, Positive Minds”.

arrange for teachers new to the Puppetry Competition to attend the face-to-face professional development workshop on puppetry in October 2026 and the cluster meeting via Zoom in November 2026, respectively.

participate fully in all puppetry activities at the professional development workshop;
watch samples showing good puppetry techniques (the link will be available later):
use what they have learnt to prepare their students for the competition.

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 Online Entry Application Form must be submitted by 13 November 2026.
Late applications will NOT be accepted.

The competition is open to students from public sector and Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) primary schools adopting the local curriculum in Hong Kong.
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 (Primary 1-3), KS2 (Primary 4-6), or a combination of both. All students involved should play a part in the performance and certificates will be awarded to students (maximum 5) who perform in the video.

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.)
Teams may use commercial and/or hand-made puppets, with hand-made puppets especially encouraged.
Puppets with movable mouths and limbs are highly recommended.
Scripts should be practised, revised and refined prior to the competition
Time your performance to avoid penalties.
Teams must provide their own music/sound effects.

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.

Take a photo of the performing students with their puppets in their hands and the two teacher coordinators.
The photograph should be taken immediately after the video shoot and submitted together with the video in the Online Video Entry Submission Form.