Kerala School Kalolsavam

Kerala School Kalolsavam
StatusActive
GenreYouth Festival
FrequencyAnnually
VenueKerala
CountryIndia
Founded1956 (1956)
FounderDr. C. S. Venkiteswaran
Most recent
2025
Participants14000+
AreaHigh School, Higher Secondary school students (Class 8 to 12)
Organised byDepartment of General Education, Government of Kerala
SponsorIT@school


The Kerala School Kalolsavam is an annual event organized by the Government of Kerala, featuring various art competitions for high school and higher secondary students across the state of Kerala. Established in 1956, it was known as the "Kerala State School Youth Festival" until 2024. The participants, students in classes 8 to 12, compete at the state level after advancing from their respective district competitions. The event typically takes place between December and January and is considered one of the largest cultural gatherings in Asia.[1][2]

64th Kerala School Kalolsavam Venue

The current champions are Kannur District, who won the 64th Kerala School Kalolsavam held in Thrissur from January 14 to 18, 2026. This was the district's sixth overall victory, with their last win in 2024.[3]

History

Kerala School Kalolsavam is a unique festival in its structure and organization, overseen by the General Education Department as per guidelines drafted by experts. This annual event provides a platform for students to showcase their talents at various levels, from school to the state. Over its 53-year history, the festival has evolved significantly in both scope and spirit, becoming a hallmark of student talent in Kerala.[4]

The event traces its roots back to 1956-57, when it was known as the 'School Yuvajanolsavam'. The idea for the festival was conceived by C. S. Venkiteswaran, who was inspired by an inter-university festival in Delhi. The first event, held at Sree Rama Varma High School in Ernakulam, was a modest one-day program with 200 participants. Over the years, more competitions were added, and the event expanded in both scale and duration, now spanning five days with around 10,000 participants.[5][6]

From its early days, the festival has seen considerable growth. Initially a small event, it has become a major cultural festival supported by the government, local authorities, and representatives from various levels, including the Grama Panchayat, Corporation, and state legislators. In 2008-09, the event reached a milestone with a participant count of nearly 10,000, compared to the 200 participants in its inaugural year.[7]

The year 1975 marked a turning point for the Kalolsavam, when traditional Kerala art forms like Kathakali music, Mohiniyattam, and Aksharaslokam were introduced. The festival continued to grow, incorporating more art forms such as Margamkali, Kuchipudi, and Yakshaganam.[8] By the late 1980s, a prestigious Golden Cup made of 117.5 sovereigns of gold was introduced for the overall winning district, designed by Chirayankeezhu Srikandan Nair.[9][10]

In 2000, the Millennium Trophy, featuring a dancing Nataraja figure, was introduced. Today, the Kalolsavam rewards winners with various trophies, cash prizes, and grace marks. Trichur Trophies has been the official provider of awards for the past 12 years, and in 2022 alone, around 14,000 trophies were distributed at the state level.[11] The earlier system of awarding titles like 'Kalathilakam' and 'Kalaprathibha' has been discontinued to prevent unhealthy competition.[12][13][14]

The School Wiki initiative by KITE features literary works of students from the Kerala School Kalolsavam from 2017 onwards.[15][16]

The 63rd Kerala School Kalolsavam was held in Thiruvananthapuram from January 4 to 8, 2025 and Thrissur district crowned the championship. This was the district's sixth overall victory, with their last win in 1999.[17]

The 64th edition of the Kerala School Kalolsavam took place from 14 to 18 January in Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala.[18] This year the Kalolsavam marked a historic milestone when Siya Fathima, a Class 10 student from Kasaragod district was allowed to participate in the festival online, becoming the first student to do so in its history. The special permission was granted by the Kerala General Education Department after the student was diagnosed with vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease, which prevented her from travelling to the event venue due to medical treatment and isolation requirements. With technical assistance from KITE, she took part in the competition remotely through live video conferencing, while judges assessed her performance in real time. Despite participating online, the student secured an A grade in her event, an achievement that was widely reported as a significant step towards inclusivity and the use of digital technology in Kerala’s premier school arts festival.[19]

Events

Events held at Kalolsavam, are grouped by art forms, with multiple competitions in each of the categories. The categories are folk arts, literary arts, musical arts, verbal arts, visual arts, and theatre arts. Some events are restricted to specific participants, with certain events only for boys, others only for girls, and some for both. Additionally, some events are exclusive to students from Arabic and Sanskrit medium schools.[20]

Notable participants

Several Malayalam actors were once participants in the Kalolsavam, where they earned recognition for their skills in various competitions.[21][22][23]

Sl. NoArtistPosition
1Vineeth'Kalaprathibha' title in 1986
2Divyaa Unni'Kalathilakam' title in 1990 and 1991
3Manju Warrier'Kalathilakam' title in 1992 and 1995
4Kavya MadhavanParticipant, District-level 'Kalathilakam' title
5Ambili Devi'Kalathilakam' title in 2001
6Navya NairParticipant
7Vineeth Kumar'Kalaprathibha' title in 1988
8Vineeth SreenivasanFirst prize for Mappila Songs in 2000
9Vinduja Menon'Kalathilakam' title in 1991
10Shivajith Padmanabhan'Kalaprathibha' title in 1998 & 1999

References

  1. ↑ "Kerala State School Youth Festival, Asia's biggest fest, begins today". Deccanchronicle.com. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "60th State School Art Festival to open in Thrissur today". English.mathrubhumi.com. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Kerala School Kalolsavam: From 13 Events and 400 Participants in 1957 to a Cultural Extravaganza—Tracing the Evolution of the Festival". Deepu Divakaran (in Malayalam). samayam.com. 7 January 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  5. ↑ "School Kalolsavam: Kaleidoscope of Kerala's Cultural Richness". Santhosh Perla. Daijiworld Media. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  6. ↑ "From 400 to 14,000: The Journey of Kerala Schools Kalolsavam to Asia's Largest Art Festival". Malayala Manorama. 7 January 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  7. ↑ "From a One-Day Event in 1956 to a Cultural Revolution in 1975: The Journey of Kerala's Kalolsavam Up to 2009". Asmitha Kabeer (in Malayalam). Asianet News. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  8. ↑ "62nd Kerala school Kalolsavam begins in Kollam". The News Minute. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  9. ↑ "How the school kalolsavam gold cup took shape". Onmanorama. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  10. ↑ "A 117.5 Sovereign Gold Cup: The Prestigious Prize of Kerala's Kalolsavam with a Rich Legacy" (in Malayalam). samayam.com. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "As Asia's largest kids arts festival — Kerala School Kalolsavam — gets off to a colourful start, here's its origin story". K A Shaji. thesouthfirst.com. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  12. ↑ "'Kalathilakam' and 'Kalaprathibha', the faded titles" (in Malayalam). Asianet News. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "'Kalaprathibha' title inept: Chemmanam Chacko". Ribin Raju. Mathrubhumi. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  14. ↑ "Man who coined 'Kalaprathibha' to move court". The New Indian Express. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  15. ↑ "School Wiki awards announced". The Hindu. 24 June 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  16. ↑ "KITE: Digital magazines of 2K schools available online | KITE: Digital magazines of 2K schools available online". www.deccanchronicle.com. 23 February 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  17. ↑ "Kalolsavam 2025: Thrissur takes the gold cup home". Mathrubhumi News. 8 January 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  18. ↑ Kumar, P. K. Ajith (13 January 2026). "Kerala Kalolsavam 2026 | State school festival, the Olympics of arts, from January 14". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  19. ↑
  20. ↑ Government of Kerala (2025). List of Items/events at the Kerala School Kalolsavam 2025 (PDF). Department of General Education. pp. 1–10.
  21. ↑ "If Miss India was stepping stone to Bollywood, it was school Kalolsavam for Malayalam films". The NEWS Minute. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  22. ↑ "What's with Vineeth and school arts festivals?". Manorama Online. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  23. ↑ "Stars are born at talent festivals!". The Times of India. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2017.

In 1957 school youth festivel witnessed the rise of so many popular musical stalwarts like Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran, K.J. Yesudas, Perumbavoor. G. Raveendranath, P. Jayachandran etc. In 1957 school youth festivel sri. Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran got first prize in classical music and K.J. Yesudas got first prize in light music.

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