The award carried a citation, gold medal and cash prize of Rs one lakh. The Palaghat Mani Iyer Centenary Award was presented to violinist T N Krishnan and the Dr MLV award to young musician Prassanna Venkataraman

Conferring the titles, Tirumala Tirupathi Govinda Ramanuja China Jeeyar Swamigal said that the atmosphere of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha was permeated with divinity and music  which was a rare combination. He blessed the sabha to acquire a piece of land and construct a building of its own within a year.

Felicitating the awardees, Sudha Raghunathan said that Sowmya was a child prodigy whose repertoire was enormous. She was a torch bearer of her guru S Ramanathan‘s bani, she added.

Vainika and Ramanathan's daughter Geetha Bennet recalling the close association of her family with Sowmya said that the singer had been a stickler for tradition through the years just as her father had wished .

Sowmya said that music is divine and art should be pursued for its own sake. My Guru always said that music should be sung and enjoyed for its own sake and I have imbibed it.

T N Krishnan and Nityashree Mahadevan spoke. Industrialist Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti welcomed the gathering.