The Chief Guest was Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda. Among the other notable attendees included Director of the Anti-Leprosy Campaign Dr. Prasad Ranaweera and legendary cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan’s father Sinnasamy Muttiah.

Lake House Chairman Prof. Harendra Kariyawasam and the Board of directors and Thinakaran paper and Lake House Staff attended.

Also, students who excelled in an essay competition conducted by the paper also were given awards. Several veteran journalists who contributed to the success of the paper over the years too were felicitated.

The Thinakaran paper was first published in 1932. It was started by founder of the Lake House the late D. R. Wijewardene with an objective of instilling the desire for freedom in the minds of Tamil speaking community from the colonial rulers.

Thinakaran acted as a platform for the development of Tamil literature in Sri Lanka. Thinakaran, Sri Lanka’s premier Tamil language National newspaper with a tradition of more than nine decades, has successfully overcome many risks and hurdles in its history of 92 years.