1. Groups:
All Sunday school students from Pre-KG to grade 12 are
divided in to seven groups as follows.
a. Group – 1 Classes
Pre- KG & KG
b. Group – 2 Classes
1 & 2
c. Group – 3
Classes 3 & 4
d. Group – 4
Classes 5 & 6
e. Group – 5
Classes 7 & 8
f. Group – 6 Classes 9 & 10
g Group – 7
Classes 11 & 12
2. Items of competition:
a.
GROUP - 1
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song Malayalam
Prayer while entering the church (in reverence, will I
.... vows to thee)
b. GROUP - 2
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song Malayalam
Group Song English
Oral Bible Verses, reference not required to say (No
Regional Competition)
Prayer: Oh Holy Father…….. at all
times for ever, amen.
Solo English
Group Song Malayalam
Group Song English
Oral Bible verses: reference required to say. (No Regional
competition)
Recitation: (Psalm: 121)
Bible Quiz: written (Parables from
St. Mathew)
Elocution in English (Parable of
Prodigal son)
d. GROUP - 4
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song Malayalam
Group Song English
Bible Quiz: written (St. Luke)
Recitation (Nicene Creed)
Elocution English (Holy Baptism)
Essay
writing (Importance of St. Mary in Orthodox Church)
e. GROUP - 5
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song English
Recitation: (Beatitudes,
Bible Quiz: written (
Elocution in English (Prayer and fasting)
Essay writing (St. Thomas the Apostle of
f. GROUP 6
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song Malayalam
Group Song English
Recitation: (Psalm 91)
Elocution in English(Importance of morning worship in Holy Qurbana)
Bible Quiz: written (The
Acts of Apostles)
Essay writing (Need for Holy
Confession in our life)
g. GROUP 7
Solo Malayalam
Solo English
Group Song English
Bible Quiz: written (Epistles to
Romans)
Elocution in English (Impact of 1st
three ecumenical councils)
Essay writing (Defending the three
orthodox believes: Infant Baptism,
Intercessory prayer and priesthood)
3. GENERAL
GUIDE LINES
a.
Venue for competitions:
Area – 2 District Committee
will decide the date, time and venue to conduct the competition.
b.
Venue for writing events:
All writing events will be
conducted in two common venues as decided by the district committee.
1.
2.
Date, time and place shall
be decided and announced at least six weeks before conducting the events.
c.
Participants:
Each Sunday school can select
and send ‘best two’ participants or teams for every item. It is the
responsibility of the Sunday school to select the
‘best two’. Under any circumstance,
more than two participants or teams will not be allowed to represent a Sunday
school for any given item.
The list of the
students representing every Sunday school shall be sent to the District
Inspector with in the time specified by the district committee. (March 08,
2009)
There is no
limit on the number of students participating for writing events.
No substitution
of participants will be allowed. If any participant fails to appear even after
three consecutive calls, will be considered as ‘no show’ and removed from the
list of contestants. If any member is absent for a group item, the team will be
allowed to participate as long as the team has at least two of their
participants present.
d.
Prizes:
1st
2nd and 3rd places will be determined by the highest
total score of an item. District committee will make appropriate decision about
the cost and type of each prize. Prizes shall be sponsored by the home parishes
of the winners.
e. Evaluation:
All evaluation shall be done in the given
evaluation sheets and shall
be based
on the criteria outlined in the guidelines.
1. Essay:
Essays will be evaluated by
any available priest or deacon from the Orthodox churches in
If the Region has Essay Competition,
the answer books shall be forwarded to the Regional Coordinator.
2. Bible Quiz:
Bible Quiz competition answer sheets will be jointly evaluated by
the District Committee in a
specified time and place.
If the Sunday School Region
has bible quiz competition, answer books
shall be forwarded to
the Regional Coordinator.
3.
Bible Verses and Recitation:
These competitions shall be done in an isolated
area preferably in a class
room. These
competitions will be judged by priests or deacons from
Orthodox Churches.
4. Songs / Elocution:
Songs and elocutions shall
be judged by six judges, one from each Sunday school in the district. Out of
the set of six score awarded to each
participant, top and bottom
score will be eliminated and the participant
earn the reaming scores only.
4.
JUDGES:
a. Songs / Elocutions:
There shall be six judges in a
venue (one person from each Sunday
school)
for songs and elocutions. Headmasters in consultation with
their vicars shall select
qualified persons as judges and provide the names to the Area Coordinator
within the time frame decided by the district committee (Feb 25, 2009). Each
Sunday school must provide three judges including one as stand bye. If assigned
judges are not present at the venue, Area
Coordinator will assign suitable person as replacement in consultation with
District Committee.
b. Bible Verses, Bible
Priests or deacons of Indian
Orthodox churches will be assigned as
judges for these competitions. There
shall be minimum two judges
for these competitions. If assigned priests or deacons
are not present at the
venue, Area Coordinator will assign suitable
persons in consultation with
the district committee as replacement.
5. SOLO: MALAYALAM & ENGLISH
a. Songs shall be non –
liturgical devotional songs.
b. Participant are NOT allowed to use book or
references
c. Time limit for solo is 5
minutes.
d. Six copies of songs shall be
given to the judges before participant begins the song.
6.
GROUP SONG: MALAYALAM & ENGLISH
a. Participants can sing only
liturgical songs assigned for each group.
b. District committee will
assign group songs for each group and will be given to the headmasters six
weeks before church competition.
c. A participating team should
have minimum of two and maximum of seven participants.
d. No substitution of
participants will be allowed. Participants whose names are in the official list
given earlier through the headmasters will be allowed to participate.
e. For group items if any
participant/s not present from the official list will be considered as ‘no show’
and remaining team members will be allowed to perform as long as the team has
two or more participants present.
7. ORAL BIBLE VERSES:
A. For
Group: 2
1. Written reference for verification of verses
shall be the judges
before
the participant begins to recite the verses. Reference shall
have book, chapter and verse.
2. Failure to provide written reference will be
subjected to deduction
of 20 points from the awarded score.
3.
It is not necessary to say the bible verse reference for this group.
Credit will be given for
fully recited bible verses only. . Partial
recited verses will not earn any
credit.
4.
Participants are not allowed to recite more than three verses from
the same chapter.
5.
The time limit for this item is 5 minutes.
B. For Group – 3
1. Written
reference for verification of verses shall be given to the judges before the
participant begins to recite the verses. Reference
Shall have book, chapter and verse.
2.
Failure to provide written
reference will be subjected to deduction of 20 points from the awarded score.
2. Participants
must say the bible verse reference for this group (the book, chapter and
verse). If the bible reference is not
said, half credit will be deducted for that verse. Credit will be given for
fully recited bible verses. Partial recited verses will not earn any credit.
3. Participants
are not allowed to recite more than three verses from the same chapter.
4. The
time limit for this item is 5 minutes. .
8.
PRAYER AND RECITATION
a. The prayer and recitation assigned
shall be recited by the participants from memory.
b. Participants should not have any script or notes with
them during presentation.
c. Maximum time allowed is five
minutes. A warning yellow card will be shown at 4 min, red card at 5 minutes by
the time keeper
d. District committee will
assign prayer or topics of recitation for each group and will be given to the
headmasters six weeks before church competition.
9.
ELOCUTION:
a. Elocutions must be presented
in English.
b. Participants should not have any script or notes with
them during presentation.
c. Participant must speak
minimum two minutes to qualify.
d. Maximum time allowed is five
minutes. A warning yellow card will be shown at 4 min, red card at 5 minutes by
the time keeper.
e. Points will be deducted if
the speech continues after the time limit.
f. District committee will assign
subjects of elocution for each group and will be given to the headmasters six
weeks before church competition.
g.
Participants must present the topic assigned to them.
10.
BIBLE QUIZ:
a. Time limit for Bible Quiz is
30 minutes.
b. All questions shall be
multiple choice formats.
c. District committee will
assign portions for each group and will be given to the headmasters six weeks
before church competition.
d. Questions format;
1. Group –
3 30 questions
2. Group – 4 30 questions
3. Group – 5 30 questions
4. Group - 6
40 questions
5. Group – 7
50 questions
e. Bible quiz competition will be conducted along with all other writing
events in two common venues as decided by district committee.
f.
Participants are not allowed to write their names or any kind of
identification on the answer sheets and must write the identification number
assigned to them by the district.
11. ESSAY WRITING:
a. Time limit for Essay
competition is 30 minutes and shall be approximately 200 words.
b. District committee will
assign subjects for Essay competitions for all participating groups and will be
given to the headmasters six weeks before church competition.
c. Essay
shall be written in English in answer sheets provided by the district.
d. Essay competition will be conducted
along with other writing events in three common venues as decided by the
district committee
e participants are not allowed to write
their names or any kind of identification on the answer sheets and must write
the identification number assigned to them by the district committee.
f. Participants are not allowed to have
in their possession any kind of script or note when writing essays.
12.
TIE-BREAKER
If a tie-breaker is required
to select the best two participants or
teams to represent the
area in regional competition, the sum of the
eliminated bottom and top score shall
be considered as the first
tie-breaker and top score alone shall be considered as the
second
tie-breaker.
13 PROTEST / CONCERNS
District Committee will make
every possible effort to conduct the competitions fair and convincing to all
concerned. If any participant, parent or
teacher has any concern or protest in the evaluation, grading or awarding of
prizes, the same shall be brought to the District Committee through the
headmaster of their home parish. District committee will investigate the issue
and make a final decision. This decision made by the District Committee will be
final and binding on all parties concerned.
14 COMPETITION
COMMITTEE;
District committee may form
a Competition Committee with equal participation of Sunday schools in the
district and authorize them to conduct the competition.
15. TIME
KEEPING
District committee will designate one
person in each venue as time keeper. It is the responsibility of time keeper to
give appropriate warnings to judges and contestants about time.
16. EVALUATIN SHEETS
Sample evaluation sheets for
Songs, Bible verses, Elocution, Bible reading and prayer are given below.
17. EXPENSES:
All the expenses of
conducting the competition shall be equally divided among all Sunday schools in
the area.
For the Area
Committee;
Thomas K.
Abraham
Coordinator,
Area – 2; Dallas / OK