In a neck-and-neck competition, Irinjalakuda sub-district won the overall championship with 835 points at the Thrissur Revenue District Arts Festival that concluded at Guruvyur on Friday.
They won 129 points in the UP category, 320 points in high school category, and 386 points in the higher secondary category to become champions.
While Thissur East became first runner-up with 826 points, Chavakkad secured the third place with 788 points.
Irinjalakuda became champions in the Sanskrit festival too with 177 points. While Thrissur West came second with 161 points, Thrissur East reached third position with 159 points.
Cherpu sub-district became winners in the Arabic festival with 164 points. Mullassery and Valappad became first and second runners-up with 163 and 162 points respectively.
Controversies over ‘biased judgements’ and quality of judges continued on the concluding day too. Minor altercations took place at the venues of Parichamuttukali, Margam Kali, and Kolkali. However, challenging the scorching heat, art connoisseurs thonged all the venues till the end of events.
K.V. Abdul Khader, MLA, inaugurated the valedictory function. Congratulating the winners, he said that the festival witnessed quality performances that kept the cultural heritage of the State intact. Guruvayur municipal chairperson V.S. Revathi presided.
Gender-sensitive plays
The final day of the festival became remarkable with gender-sensitive plays. Plays that adopted a women’s perspective won first prizes in both high school and higher secondary categories. The UP category plays too drew attention with themes that spoke about discrimination against women. The Drama event, which witnessed tough competition, was staged in front of a packed audience.
Kerala Nadanam, Vanchippattu, Poorakkali, Margam Kali, and Folk song were the other competitions held on the concluding day.
The four-day festival was held at six venues in and around Guruvayur. Sree Krishna Higher Secondary School, Guruvayur; Government Higher Secondary School, Chavakkad; GUPS, Guruvayur; Little Flower Girls Convent School, Mammiyur; LFUP School, Mammiyur, and Shikshak Sadan, Muthuvattur, were the venues.
The mess hall that functioned at the auditorium of the Mammiyur temple served food to almost 5,000 people every day, including students, parents, teachers, and media persons. In all, 6,125 students from 400 schools from 12 sub-districts participated in the festival.
