The Chair of the Wrecsam National Eisteddfod was awarded to Tudur Hallam for deeply personal poems reflecting his experience of receiving a cancer diagnosis
In an emotional ceremony on Friday afternoon, the Pavilion rose to its feet to applaud the winning poet as the Archdruid greeted him.
Tudur’s brother, Gwion Hallam, also addressed the Pavilion with a heartfelt poem of his own.
This is the second time Tudur Hallam has received the Chair, following his success at the Blaenau Gwent and Valleys National Eisteddfod in 2010.
After the ceremony, Mr Hallam said that standing in the Pavilion to be greeted as the winner of the Chair was “exhilarating.”
“It was a very emotional occasion, especially when the audience stood for the second time. But once I greeted my family, I relaxed a little and enjoyed the ceremony. The Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd did everything they could to make things easier,” he said.
Mr Hallam received a cancer diagnosis during Eisteddfod week last year, and for months afterwards he was unable to write anything in Welsh.
“I feel happy, proud that I competed – I wasn’t sure whether to submit the awdl or not. I’ve felt quite conflicted about it because the content is so emotional, but today feels like a celebration.
“Winning the Chair or the Crown is an achievement, and hearing that it was a strong competition makes me feel incredibly lucky to have won, to be honest,” he said.
He decided to compete for the Chair and said that the support of his family and doctors enabled him to do so.
“I believe writing can be a great help to people, and personally I wanted to write straight after the diagnosis – but I couldn’t. I think I was in shock, and then in January, after receiving the bad news that the treatment meant to buy me time hadn’t worked, suddenly the words started to flow. Now I’m glad I’ve created something positive out of a very difficult situation.”
The audience in the Pavilion heard that 15 poets competed this year – the highest number since 1989 – and the judges said it was an “exceptionally strong” competition.
“Knowing it was a strong competition and that the Chair could have been won by several poets is comforting,” he said.
This year’s task was to compose an awdl or a collection of poems in strict metre using more than one traditional form, on the theme ‘City’.
In his adjudication, Peredur Lynch said, “I was completely misled by the opening cywydd of this awdl, and I believe that was the intention.
“We are in the company of a girls’ school football team from Carmarthenshire, and their coach is the poet.
“The girls from the west have just been beaten by a team from Cardiff – of all places! – in a cup final.
“When I first read this lively opening to the awdl, I must admit my instinctive reaction was: ‘Very entertaining, but it’ll take more than a light-hearted cywydd like this to win the National Chair.’”
“And then, in an instant, I felt a punch in the gut – the line ‘Six months? Ten months? A little more?’
“Without warning, we are summoned by the poet from the middle of a football pitch to Glangwili Hospital, where he receives a diagnosis of bone cancer and metastatic cancer in the liver. I was misled – and life is a deceiver. One day on a football pitch full of challenge and bravado; the next, our world turned upside down.”
The poet explained that he coaches a girls’ football team in Carmarthenshire, and their aim is to win every match – especially against city teams – so it was natural for him to begin his poem with the team.
Tudur Hallam lives with his wife, Nia, and their children Garan, Bedo and Edwy in Foelgastell, Carmarthenshire.
The Eisteddfod said Tudur Hallam wished to thank his family and friends for every sign of love and support, especially over the past year.