The winner of the Eisteddfod AmGen Drama Medal is Gareth Evans-Jones, from Traeth Bychan near Marian-glas, Anglesey.
This year’s Drama Medal was presented for a short drama for the stage or for digital platforms, with no restriction in terms of length. Consideration will be given to collaborating with the winner of this competition to develop the winning work in partnership with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru.
The adjudiactor was Gwennan Mair Jones, and five plays were entered for this year’s competition. Discussing Mwgwd’s play, Cadi Ffan a Jan, she said, “The dialogue between the characters is very natural and interestingly colloquical. The characters are rounded and real, and we got to know them – and like them – immediately. So we were fully invested in the play from the very first page.
“It’s very difficult to write comedy that’s also full of depth, so it’s great to find a simple and memorable play. This is a very promising writer, and there’s great potential for this play to become a very successful stage play or film.”
This the second time Gareth Evans-Jones has won the Drama Medal. He also came top in the competition at the Conwy County National Eisteddfod two years ago in 2019, for his play, Adar Papur.
He’s also won a number of other prizes for his literary work, including ‘The Best Play in the Welsh Language’ by the Drama Association of Wales in 2010 and 2012, the Intercollegiate Drama Medal 2012, the Anglesey Eisteddfod Crown in 2016 and Anglesey Eisteddfod Prose Medal in 2019.
He was educated at Llanbedrgoch, Benllech, and Syr Thomas Jones, Amlwch schools, before going to Bangor University to study for a BA in Welsh and Religious Studies. He followed an MA course in Creative Writing in 2014 and completed a PhD in 2017 for a thesis considering the religious responses of the Welsh in America to the issue of slavery during the period 1838-1868. An adaption of the thesis will be published by the University of Wales Press. He works as a lecturer in Religious Studies at Bangor University.
He published his first novel, Eira Llwyd, in 2018 and edited a volume of flash fiction, published this year, Can Curiad. He has contributed short stories, flash fiction, and poems to various journals and volumes, including O’r Pedwar Gwynt and Y Stamp; and has written for Theatr Fach, Llangefni, Cwmni Frân Wen’s Brain group, and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru.
He’s also involved in a number of local groups, including the Marian-glas Young People’s Eisteddfod and the Bro Goronwy Literary Society, and is also a co-artistic director at Theatr Fach, Llangefni.
He was presented with the Medal in a special ceremony at the BBC’s Central Square in Cardiff, in line with the latest COVID restrictions.
The Cyfansoddiadau a Beirniadaethau includes the full adjudication for this competition and the winners of all the other composition winners at this year’s Eisteddfod. The volume is available to buy at all good bookshops and online from Saturday 7 August.