Sioned Erin Hughes from Boduan wins the Prose Medal this year in a competition that attracted 17 candidates.
This year’s competition was a volume of creative prose not exceeding 40,000 words on the subject of 'Escape'. The adjudicators were Meg Elis, Dylan Iorwerth and Eurig Salisbury. The Medal and the prize money of £750 were presented by the Society of Friends of the National Library of Wales.
Delivering the adjudication from the Pavilion stage on behalf of her fellow judges, Meg Elis said, "We received seventeen volumes of work in this year’s competition - a very decent number. But our duty was to focus on the quality rather than the quantity.
"Lockdown gave people more time to write, which in turn led to the number of entries in this year’s competition. There’s nothing wrong with that. I did a lot more gardening during lockdown. But I wouldn't dream of entering the Chelsea Flower Show until I'd grown and cultivated so much more expertise than I currently possess.
"And don't disparage the comparison: Chelsea is the pinnacle for top gardeners, and this competition, which so many writers before us fought to give it its rightful status, is where we should be seeing our best writers blossom, displaying their colours in all their glory."
Luckily, a number of entries did appeal to the adjudicators, as Meg Elis later explained, "You’ll see that the three of us placed different entries in the second or third class, and that’s a healthy thing. But when we came to the three candidates who reached the top, we were unanimous - although not completely so, as you’ll see...
"Mali, Mesen and Gwraig deserve serious consideration, and all three have their different qualities. Mali presented a series of stories under the title 'Ninefe': and they’re completed stories, not small pieces. As you read on, you’ll see that there’s a definite connection between the stories, and between the characters as well...
"Gwraig gives us some amazing characters in her novel, 'Sut i Ddofi Spider'. Possibly the character that touches us the most is the woman herself, and her effort to find a cure for her husband's cancer taking us into a world of fantasy, to the close relationship between husband and wife. Gwraig has also managed, almost, to avoid the trap that others fell into, namely not being able to keep control over ambitious material. 'Almost' I said, but not quite…
"’Rhyngom’, Mesen’s volume of stories, has a quiet tone on the whole, but this is someone who knows exactly how to convey a character in a phrase, when to be subtle and when to use a phrase that makes the reader stop and wonder. Mesen's strength is the ability to shed light on the relationship between people and each other, and the writer has learned the lesson that many of the other candidates should have memorised - “show, not tell. "
"Mesen's collection definitely pleased Eurig, while Dylan was drawn to Mali. There were so many features in Gwraig's work that gave me literary pleasure. And one of the pleasures of co-judging is the opportunity to discuss, to re-read and re-visit, and reflect on the works we received. That's what the three of us did, and I'm glad to say that the three of us have come to an agreement that, of the three volumes that came out on top this year, it’s 'Rhyngom', by Mesen, which deserves the Medal in Tregaron this year."
Erin Sioned Hughes is 24 years old and lives in Boduan, near Pwllheli. She graduated in Sociology and Welsh at Bangor University, before following a Master course in Creative Writing led by Professor Gerwyn Wiliams. She won the Crown at the Brecon and Radnor Urdd Eisteddfod in 2018, and came second in the Drama Medal at the Denbighshire Urdd Eisteddfod this year.
She edited and curated ‘Byw yn fy Nghroen’, which was among the winners in the Tir na n-Og Awards in 2020. She wrote her first children's book, ‘Y Goeden Hud’, back in 2021, at the start of the first lockdown period. She now works freelance on a handful of exciting projects.
Her hopes for the coming year are to turn her hand to drama and poetry, as she’s painfully aware that she only has one year left before she’ll be too old to compete in the Urdd! Having said this, she’s also keen to emphasise that it’s prose, more than anything else, that has captured her heart.
The full adjudication will be available in the Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau, published at the end of the Chairing Ceremony on Friday afternoon. Sioned’s winning work, ‘Rhyngom;’ will be available to buy at the end of this ceremony.