1. The Kentucky Youth Storytelling contest is only for Kentucky residents age 7 - 17 as of June 1^st.
2. Stories may be told by solo storytellers or by tandem teams (2 - 4 tellers). A contestant may compete both as a solo teller and as part of a team.
3. Stories should ideally be 5 - 8 minutes in length, but absolutely not under 4 minutes or over 10 minutes.
4. Stories must be told, not read.
5. Each story must be submitted on a separate video by a link to YouTube or other electronic video source with only one story per link.  A separate Entry & Permission form for each teller must be submitted to KYS. (One form, which will include the video link, for a solo teller.  Tandem teams need to submit a form, including the video link, for each member of the tandem team.)
6. When creating the video:
• A full body shot is not necessary, but judges need to see enough to judge the teller’s use of body language.
• Use a microphone so the teller can be easily heard.
• Do NOT edit - editing may result in disqualification. The judges would rather see how a teller handles a small mistake than view perfection achieved through editing.
• The judges want to hear your story. They will learn about it on your entry form, so it's not necessary for you to provide an introduction for them; however, should you wish to include an introduction, you are welcome to do so. Introductions will not be judged, and the length of an introduction will not be counted as part of your overall story length.
• Clothing - We suggest your clothing be appropriate for an audience and not distracting. (For example, wearing a T-shirt with a slogan will cause listeners to attempt to connect the slogan to the story, thus providing a distraction. But what if you always wear T-shirts, and they all have slogans? Just wear your T-shirt inside out, and record your story!) We also do not want costuming.
• If you are recording with a device that can record with both landscape and portrait orientations, please use landscape orientation, not portrait orientation (so horizontally, not vertically).
• Be sure to view the video on equipment different from what was used to record the video before you submit it. (In the past some entries have been received with upside down storytellers, no audio, so much shadow the teller’s face could not be seen, and other problems that inhibited effective review of the storyteller’s work. If you would like KYS to review your video for problems, send just the video link to kys@kystory.org by May 1^st, with an email message asking for a review for technical quality. You will hear back by May 15^th. And you will still need to submit the complete Entry and Permission Form with the video link by the June 1^st deadline.)
7. Only one story per video, so a teller entering both as a solo teller and as part of a tandem team must submit a separate video link and a separate Entry & Permission form for each story.

8.       Entries will be judged according to the KYS Judging Rubric .