National Eisteddfod 2025: 'I couldn't write in Welsh, I was in a state of shock'

Wales Online

09-08-2025

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A father-of-three was awarded the Chair at the 2025 National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. Tudur Hallam was lauded for his deeply personal poems about his cancer diagnosis almost exactly a year ago.
In an emotional ceremony on Friday afternoon (August 8), 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.
It is the second time Tudur has received the award, following his success in the competition at the Blaenau Gwent and Valleys National Eisteddfod in 2010.
After the ceremony, Mr Hallam said the experience of standing in the pavilion to be greeted as the winner of the Chair was 'exhilarating". He said: 'It was a very emotional occasion, especially when the audience stood for the second time.
'But after greeting my family, I relaxed a little and enjoyed the ceremony. The Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd did everything they could to make things easier.'
Tudur received a cancer diagnosis during Eisteddfod week last year, and for months afterward he was unable to write anything in Welsh. He said: 'I feel happy, proud that I competed because I wasn't sure whether I should submit the awdl (long poem) or not. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now
"I've been quite conflicted about it because the content of the awdl 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."
(Image: Aled Llywelyn)
He decided to compete for the Eisteddfod 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 immediately after the diagnosis, but I couldn't,' he said.
"I think I was in a state of shock. Then in January, after receiving 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 full cynghanedd using more than one traditional metre on the theme of 'Dinas' ( 'City').
As Tudur is a coach for a girls' football team in rural Carmarthenshire, and their aim is to win every match – especially against teams from the cities – he said it was natural for him to begin his poem with the team.
In his adjudication, Peredur Lynch said: 'I was completely deceived 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 competition, and in the final.
'When I read this cheerful opening to the awdl for the first time, I must admit my instinctive reaction was something like, 'Very entertaining, but it takes 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, with the line: 'Six months? Ten months? A little more?'
'Without any preparation, we are summoned as readers by the poet from the middle of a football field to Glangwili Hospital, where he receives a diagnosis of bone cancer and metastatic cancer in the liver.
'I was deceived, and life is a deceiver. On a football field full of challenge and bravado one day; our world turned upside down the next.'
Tudur lives with his wife, Nia, and their children Garan, Bedo and Edwy in Foelgastell, Carmarthenshire. He is an Emeritus Professor at Swansea University, where he taught and researched in the field of Welsh.
The Eisteddfod said Mr Hallam wished to thank his family and friends for all their love and support, especially over the past year. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
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