ALAPPUZHA: When curtains came down on the 2018 State School youth festival on Sunday, Palakkad emerged champs, defeating 12 year consecutive winner Kozhikode by three points.

Though there was no golden cup or trophies, there was full spirit among the participants in the competitions held in Alappuzha.
Palakkad got 930 points and Kozhikode came second with 927 points.

With this victory Palakkad school rewrote the history of 12 years when in each year, Kozhikode pushed back Palakkad into the second place.
Over the past several years, Palakkad had been ill-fated to lose the cup by a small margin. In the youth festival held in Thrissur last year, Kozhikode defeated Palakkad by just two points.

Before that, during the Kalotsavam held in Kannur, Kozhikode won by just three points. Every hour on the last day of the festival on Sunday, the leads kept changing.

In Sanskrit Kalotsavam, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur, Ernakulam, and Thrissur district came first by winning 90 points each. In Arabic kalotsavam, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, Malappuram and Wayanad came first with 95 points each.

Point scored

1. Palakkad - 930

2. Kozhikode - 927

3. Thrissur - 903

4. Kannur - 901

5. Malappuram - 895

6. Ernakulam - 886

7. Alappuzha - 870

8. Kollam - 862

9. Thiruvananthapuram - 858

10. Kasargod - 839

11. Wayanad - 834

12. Kottayam-829

13. Pathanamthitta - 770

14. Idukki - 706