For the first time all former winners of the Llwyd o'r Bryn Memorial Award will be invited to be part of the medal presentation ceremony on the last Saturday of the Eisteddfod
The same day there will be a Llwyd o'r Bryn memorial session in Y Babell Lên.
Llwyd o'r Bryn, or Robert Lloyd to give his full name, had the talent to tell a story orally and in written form. For most of his life he was a leader and adjudicator in many eisteddfodau in North and mid Wales. He was one of the promoters of the first Urdd Gobaith Cymru National Eisteddfod in Corwen in 1929 and between 1938 and 1950 he was the witty leader of the Tai'r Felin Party and with Robert Roberts (Bob Tai'r Felin) held concerts through Wales and with Welsh speaking associations in England.
He was born in Llandderfel near Bala in 1888 and was baptised by Reverend Michael D Jones. After marrying Annie he farmed Derwgoed until retiring in 1944.
The prize for recitation was established in memory of Robert (Bob) Lloyd at the 1963 National Eisteddfod held in Llandudno. This was about 18 months after his death in December 1961.
The first winner of the award, and indeed the second as well, was Stewart Jones - Ifas y Tryc for those of a certain age. He was one of four men who have achieved the feat of winning this distinguished award more than once. The others are Brian Owen from Groeslon near Caernarfon (Newport 1965 and Barry (1968)) and Carwyn John from Bethel, Caernarfon (Newport 2004 and Wrexham 2011).
The only woman to win the award twice is Sian Teifi, Chair of the 2023 Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod Recitation Committee. She won at the Cardiff National Eisteddfod in 1978 and repeated the feat four years later in Swansea.
She said she remembers the large Pavilion in Cardiff being packed as the competition was held on the same afternoon as the Chair.
"I’d just had my birthday, I was 19, and the place was packed and I was very nervous.
"Very interestingly, I presented a selection of Pedair Sêr by JJ Williams which tells of the upbringing of a young boy from Pen Llŷn. Aled Gwyn had chosen it, he was teaching me, and he said at the time that his favourite book in the world was Pedair Sêr and that's why he chose the piece for me to present," she said.
In Swansea the Llwyd o'r Bryn competition was held at the start of an evening of competition on Saturday. "It was the highlight of the week for many," added Siân.
Since her victory in Swansea, Siân has had the privilege of adjudicator the competition ten times and has been the main adjudicator six times. She has also trained winners such as Carwyn John and Carys Bowen who took the prize in Ynys Môn in 2017.
Talking about this year's celebrations, Siân said she hopes to be able to invite the former winners to the competition annually from now on.
"I hope this can happen annually in memory of Llwyd o'r Bryn. This year, Daniel Evans - one of the previous winners of the award - will be asked by Ffion Dafis about his life and work in the world the word of mouth. Daniel is the new Joint Artistic Director of the RSC Stratford," he said.
The Neli Boduan (Neli Williams) Memorial Session is held in Societies 1 at 15:00 today.
"The Llwyd o'r Bryn Memorial Medal is given this year by the family in memory of her, and one of the judges of the recitation competitions - Sian Mair - is a former pupil of hers," said Sian.
A new version of the R Alun Evans’ popular book on Llwyd o’r Bryn has been published in time for this year’s festival, and will be on sale at the end of the Neli Bodual Memorial session and online from the beginning of next week, www.eisteddfod.wales.