Speech Festival FAQs

Open is for native English speakers (English as a first language). Adjudicators apply higher standards in this stream. It is still worth entering Open for children younger than P1 who are above year level, or older children who want extra exposure and competition.

Non-Open is for non-native speakers, usually attending mainstream HK schools. Rules state that students who violate this stream allocation lose marks, but in practice adjudicators struggle to verify because so many HK children are bilingual at near-native level.

Schools handle the entry process two different ways. Some schools select a small group of students to represent the school. Others offer entry to every child who wants to compete. Your child's English teacher will tell you which model your school uses.

If your child is not selected, or your school does not enter the festival at all, you enrol your child privately. Contact us and we will explain the route.

The English Speech section runs four main families: Solo Verse Speaking (a memorised poem), Solo Prose Speaking (a memorised prose extract), Solo Prose Reading (read aloud from the book, not memorised), and Public Speaking (prepared and impromptu speeches, mostly secondary). There are also dramatic monologues, choral speaking and group classes.

Solo Verse Speaking is the entry-level event for most primary children and the largest category by participation. Public Speaking is the strongest fit for confident secondary students who already write well. Prose classes sit in between.

Prose Speaking. The piece must be fully memorised. The student delivers it without the book.

Prose Reading. The piece must not be memorised. Marks are deducted if it is. The student must hold the book throughout. The adjudicator chooses the extract, usually a different one for each child. There is no need to quote the book name and author unless the adjudicator asks.

Many parents assume Prose Reading is the easier option because there is no memorisation. The truth is that strong Prose Reading rewards eye-skill, pacing and sight-interpretation. Different skill, not a lower one.

We do not recommend choreographed actions. Most adjudicators deduct marks for unnatural movements. The poem should be performed through voice and facial expression, with natural body movements only. When actions are forced, they read as forced, and the audience feels it.

A handful of adjudicators do enjoy actions. The system does not let you choose your adjudicator, so the safer strategy is a clean voice-led delivery that works for the whole bench.

Teachers with limited Speech Festival experience often teach actions as a default. Some of our coaching time goes into removing them so the natural performance underneath has room to land.

It is not a requirement. Most students bow anyway. If your child does, the bow should be quick and polite. Adjudicators sit through hundreds of performances and a long bow drains their patience before the recitation has even started.

What we recommend instead is brief eye-contact with the adjudicator, followed by a genuine smile, then the start of the piece. Once the recitation begins, your child looks at the whole audience, not only the adjudicator.

Solo verse and prose performances are graded on four criteria: voice production, expression, interpretation, and stagecraft. Some adjudicators add an overall impression mark on top.

Each performance receives a numerical mark and a written comment sheet. Certificates are awarded based on the marks: Honours for 90 marks or above, Merit for 80 to 89 marks, and Proficiency for 75 to 79 marks. Below 75 is a participation slip with no certificate. Within each class, the top performers also receive 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Only one first place is awarded per class. Performers below 80 marks are not eligible for placing or prizes.

Voice production and stagecraft are the easiest to coach because the techniques are concrete. Interpretation is the hardest because it depends on understanding the poem and bringing it to life. Most coaching time goes there.

Performance anxiety is common and normal at every age. Krashen's research on second-language acquisition flagged the affective filter decades ago: anxiety blocks both performance and learning. The fix is not pep talks. It is repeated low-stakes rehearsal so the body memorises the experience of finishing the poem in front of an audience.

Practical steps that work: rehearse in front of stuffed animals first, then siblings, then a parent only, then a parent on video, then a small video to grandparents, then an in-person small group of family. By the festival day, the audience is the eighth or ninth set of eyes, not the first.

The biggest mistake parents make is picking the shortest poem on the syllabus. Short poems tend to be technically harder. Every line carries more weight, every stress mark matters, every silence is exposed.

Better approach. Read all the eligible poems aloud with your child over a weekend. Listen for which one suits the natural rhythm of your child's voice and personality. A child with a quiet, lyrical voice should pick a different poem from a child with energy and bounce.

If you would like a teacher to match a poem to your child after listening to a short audio sample, we run a poem selection service. The match makes a meaningful difference to the final mark.

Six to eight weeks of structured weekly practice is the comfortable range. Less than four weeks rarely produces a polished performance, and last-minute work tends to lock in errors that are hard to remove on the day.

A realistic week-by-week pace looks like this. Week 1, choose the poem and read it aloud daily. Week 2, memorise the first half. Week 3, memorise the second half. Week 4, work on voice and pacing. Weeks 5 and 6, refine expression and interpretation, the part adjudicators score hardest. Weeks 7 and 8, dress rehearsals in front of small audiences.

For families starting late, the Speech Festival package compresses this into a short, structured plan with audio of native readings and feedback on delivery.

Three things make the biggest difference. First, a clean printed copy of the poem, one for the wall and one in the schoolbag. Second, audio of a native English speaker reading the poem, used as the model for rhythm and pronunciation. Third, a phone to record your child's rehearsals so they hear themselves the way the adjudicator will.

The Speech Festival package bundles the audio and a coaching demo of each year's set poems, plus written guidance on how to interpret the piece. Families starting from scratch find that bundle the cheapest way to skip three weeks of guesswork.

The English Speech section typically runs from late autumn through to early spring. Schools enrol students in the summer, with most preliminary rounds taking place in November and December. Finals usually fall in January or February.

Exact dates change each year. The HKSMSA publishes the official syllabus and competition schedule in the months before each festival. Always confirm dates against the HKSMSA site once they are released for your year.

For the 78th festival in 2026, most classes run in Live Competition Mode. Some elementary solo classes still run in Video Submission Mode. The HKSMSA syllabus marks each class clearly so you know which mode applies before you enrol.

Live mode preparation focuses on stagecraft and the experience of performing in front of strangers. Video mode rewards multiple takes and clean recording, with different skills involved. Helpful to know which one your child is preparing for from week one.

For Live Competition Mode, the festival rules require an identity document with a photo. The HK Juvenile ID card does not bear a photo and is not accepted. A passport, a HK ID card with photo, or the school's photo ID work. Without valid ID, the child performs but receives only comments, no marks and no certificate.

Beyond the ID, bring the printed competitor list (the HKSMSA Competition Notification), a clean copy of the poem for last-minute review, water, and arrive with thirty minutes spare. The hall warm-up matters and rushing in cold rarely produces a strong opening.

The adjudicator reads written comments at the end of the class once all children have performed. Marks are released afterward. Certificates are downloaded online or collected from the school in the weeks following the festival.

Whatever the result, the comment sheet is the most useful artifact your child takes home. Read it together. Ask which one comment your child wants to work on for next year. The festival's real value is the year-on-year improvement, not any single trophy.