Our Children’s Stories Competition

Storytelling is a very special tradition in Bhutan – passing down our rich cultural heritage from one generation to another. In this national storytelling competition “Our Children’s Stories”, Class VII to Class XII students from schools across Bhutan will have an opportunity to share the intimate stories passed on to them from their families and communities. Students are invited to participate by submitting a short video of themselves narrating the story they choose. This competition aims to inspire students through storytelling, exchange perspectives from different communities, connect with their roots, nurture a vibrant literary culture and celebrate the narrative tradition in Bhutan.  

Winners will be announced July 21st, 2023. 

1. Students must be between class VII and Class XII attending a school in Bhutan.
2. Videos should be between 3-5 minutes in duration and captured in landscape mode. 
3. Students are required to present themselves in formal attire. 
4. The student participant is the only person allowed to appear in and narrate the story in the video. 
5. Must be a story shared to students intimately by a close loved one or a real experience of their own and must mention from whom they heard the story from. 
6. The story must be based in Bhutan and feature Bhutanese people. 
7. The student must choose to narrate their whole story in ONLY either Dzongkha or English. 
8. Students may incorporate a maximum of 5 visual aids throughout the video.
9. Each participating student may only make one submission to this competition.
10. Make a list citing the URLs for all visual aids sourced from the internet. 
11. MUST NOT delete their submission video until after the competition is over!

Videos submitted to Bhutan Echoes may be used for promotional purposes. No special camera tricks or video editing is required to participate and win! 

In total, there will be 9 remarkable individuals recognized in this competition who will win prizes for themselves, and the school they’ll be representing. 

Winning Categories	Prizes for Each Winner
1 overall winner of the Dzongkha category	15k to student and books to school
1 overall winner of the English category	15k to student and books to school
1 winner from each class level spanning from Class VII to Class XII	6k to student and books to school
1 Honorable mention	Books

The videos of the winners of the Dzongkha and English Categories will be screened at the Drukyul’s Literature Festival 2023.

These exceptional participants will be selected by a panel of judges who will meticulously assess the quality of their work using a comprehensive judging rubric. 

• Ask ask ask your questions! Clarifying your concerns about this competition can only improve your submission and increase your chances of winning!
• Take a close look at the attached Judging Rubric to understand the point awarding criteria before the student tells the story and records the video. 
• For students who do not remember a real story told to them, encourage them to interview one of their family members, friends, teachers, or community members. Ask to document the story while interviewing and re-tell it in their own compelling way when recording the video. 
• Students should like the story they’re sharing. If you like and enjoy the story you are going to share, you are more likely to do a better job at getting your audience interested in your story too. 
• Tell your story from memory naturally for a more authentic storytelling experience.
• If students incorporate visual aids, students should make sure to remain as the primary narrator of the story. 
• For students without smartphones for recording videos or data to upload videos, schools, teachers and caregivers should help with recording or uploading the videos on their phones to share on the student’s behalf.

Submit your video by emailing your video to [email protected].

1. Name your video file, your full name and class level. Ex. Pema Dema_Class 7, or Pema Dema Class VII 
2. Set “Our Children’s Story Video Submission” as the email subject. 
3. Include your (the student participant’s) name, CID, phone number and email address,school, grade, and most importantly the link to the video that’s been uploaded onto Google Drive.