TELL: Pittsburgh Storytelling Series has been thrilled to present some of the best developing talent in the storytelling world through our 2021 and 2022 Folktale Fight - interactive online competitions where seasoned storytellers compete to perform unique versions of folktales, old and new. Our semi-finalists have gone on to considerable success in their performance careers.
Our pledge to audience members is to continue producing this same level of quality programming in the coming years.
The audition process for the 2023 Folktale Fight did not yield the number of qualified applications that we need to produce a successful event. As a result, we have decided to postpone the 2023 Folktale Fight until 2024, when we will welcome a larger pool of qualified tellers to perform in this event.
If you are a professional storyteller who seeks: greater exposure for your work, individual feedback from master storytellers such as former judges Adam Booth and Sheila Arnold, and a chance to win a contract to perform at TELL's 2024 Winter Olio, then start preparing your application now for the 2024 TELL Folktale Fight! Information Below
Within the storytelling community, there are Liar’s Contests for tall tales and StorySlams for personal narratives. There are few contests or contest formats dedicated specifically to folk and fairy tales. Our hope is that this contest will serve to fill that gap, and give the emergent tellers who specialize in these tales an opportunity to make a name for themselves telling what they tell best.
This contest is for storytellers who have extended experience performing but have not appeared at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough or the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Utah, including the "New Voices" type stage and have not performed for a TELL concert before.
From contest video submissions, a review board will select
six semi-finalists who will compete in front of
a live audience on
May 16, 2024 at 7pm EDT on Zoom.
The live contest will consist of three rounds,
and will feature two master storytellers as judges.
The audience will have the chance to voted THREE times during the contest!
In Round 1, three semi-finalists will tell a folk or fairy tale. An audience favorite will be selected via audience vote, and the judges will mutually select the Round 1 winner, who will become a Finalist.
In Round 2, the three other remaining semi-finalists will TELL a folk or fairy tale. An audience favorite will be selected via audience vote, and the judges will select the Round 2 winner, who will become a Finalist.
In the Final Round, the two Finalists will each tell a second folk or fairy tale. The audience will get one vote via poll, the first judge will get one vote, the second judge will get one vote -- best two out of three wins and becomes the
2024 TELL Folktale Fight Champion!
In addition to the accolades of winning the contest the Champion will perform as part of TELL's Winter Olio in December 2024!