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ACEnovation & Blu Hornbill Club present

The 6th World Storytelling Championship.

Every age. Every language. Every country. A single global stage for the stories that move us.

16+ countries

actively participating

Age 3–103

every storyteller welcome

Any language

the story comes first

4 rounds

to the World stage

Why WSTC 2026

A championship built around the story — not the storyteller's status.

Six editions in, we've learned what a global storytelling stage should feel like. Open. Fair. Transparent. And designed so a quiet voice from a small village can stand on the same stage as a trained performer.

Open to age 3 and beyond

Seven categories — Junior, Senior, Open and Special Needs — so every storyteller has a stage built for them.

Judged worldwide, fairly

Independent country judges score against a transparent rubric. Submit → Review → Confirm. Once locked, it cannot be edited.

Four rounds to the world

District → State → National → World. Top three in each category advance each round. The road is long. The world is watching.

Built with the storytellers who came before you

Mentored by a global advisory board of broadcasters, educators and champions across 16 countries.

Your road to the World stage

June to December 2026 — the seven-month journey.

  1. Now
    1 Jun – 30 Sep 2026

    Registration is open

    Sign up, pick a category, pay the entry fee. Parents register kids under 18. You'll be ready for the upload window.

  2. Next
    1 – 30 Oct 2026

    Video submission window

    Upload your 2-minute story from web or phone. Acknowledgement and judge assignment automatically.

  3. Then
    Nov 2026

    Judging rounds

    District → State → National. Independent panels score blind against a published rubric. Top three per category advance.

  4. Then
    Dec 2026

    World Championship Finals

    Country champions compete on the global stage. Live awards ceremony. Hall of Fame entries for every world finalist.

Seven categories

A category built for every storyteller.

From the four-year-old telling her first story to the open-category adult who has been waiting to tell theirs — there's a stage built for you.

Junior I (3–4)

Junior tier

J-I

Junior II (5–7)

Junior tier

J-II

Junior III (8–12)

Junior tier

J-III

Senior I (13–15)

Senior tier

S-I

Senior II (16–18)

Senior tier

S-II

Open (19+)

Open tier

Open

Special Needs (cross-age)

Special tier

SN
Hall of Fame

Storytellers who carried their country.

A glimpse from five editions of WSTC champions.

See full Hall of Fame
WSTC · 5th editionSouth Korea

Past Champion — South Korea

"How my grandmother's silence taught me to speak"

Senior II

WSTC · 5th editionIndia

Past Champion — India

"The map I drew before I could read"

Junior III

WSTC · 4th editionSingapore

Past Champion — Singapore

"Twelve trains home"

Open

WSTC · 4th editionNamibia

Past Champion — Namibia

"Rain in a country that forgot how to cry"

Senior I

WSTC · 3th editionChile

Past Champion — Chile

"My father, my translator, my home"

Junior II

WSTC · 3th editionGreece

Past Champion — Greece

"Letters my mother never sent"

Open

Advisory Board

Mentored by the people who built our storytelling tradition.

Meet the full board
MN

Major Nagarajan Narayanan

Founder & CEO, ACEnovation

Singapore

DN

Dr. Neena Gayatri

Co-Founder & COO

India

DG

Dr. G. Viswanathan

Chairman · Founder & Chancellor, VIT

India

AS

Ashok Srivastava

Chief Mentor · IIT Kharagpur, Ex-VP P&G

India

In partnership with

VIT — Vellore Institute of Technology
TNTEU — Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University
TNSDC — Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation
SCERT & DIET Tamil Nadu
Rotary International
Times of India
The Hindu
Zoho Corporation
World Storytelling Café (UK)
MCC — Madras Christian College

The world is waiting for your story.

Registration is open from 1 June to 30 September 2026. It takes about 4 minutes.

Register Now