Latest news with #2025NationalEisteddfod
North Wales Live
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
National Eisteddfod 2025: 'I couldn't write in Welsh, I was in a state of shock' - Chair winner on his cancer diagnosis
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." 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
Leader Live
08-08-2025
- Science
- Leader Live
National Eisteddfod honours speech tech innovator in Wrexham
Dewi Bryn Jones has received the Science and Technology Medal at the 2025 National Eisteddfod, held this year in Wrexham. The award recognises his pioneering work in Welsh language computing and speech technologies. Mr Jones leads the Language Technologies Unit at Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University, where he and his team have developed a wide range of digital tools and resources that make it easier for people to use Welsh on computers and mobile devices. Professor Delyth Prys, former head of the technology unit at Canolfan Bedwyr, said: "The award is thoroughly deserved by Dewi. "I would go so far as to say that without his contribution, we wouldn't have any Welsh software today." Mr Jones' work has had a significant impact on accessibility. His technologies support disabled users and those with additional needs to communicate in Welsh, ensuring the language remains inclusive and accessible in the digital age. Professor Deri Tomos, a previous recipient of the Science and Technology Medal, said: "This unit is absolutely vital to the future of the language. "Dewi lives and breathes the world of computing – it's a core part of his life, and I'm sure he's delighted to receive this honour." Born in Pwllheli, Mr Jones studied computer science at the University of York and has worked in Cambridge, Zurich, and Finland. While in Helsinki, he started translating and localising Netscape Navigator, one of the earliest web browsers. He later returned to Wales to join Draig Technology Ltd, where he helped develop To Bach, a tool for adding Welsh accents while typing. In 2002, he joined the Language Technologies Unit at Canolfan Bedwyr. He has since led the development of key Welsh language software, including the Cysgliad suite, which features the Cysill spelling and grammar checker and the Cysgeir electronic dictionary. Mr Jones said: "It's a great pleasure and honour to do this work and to be part of a team of others who are just as enthusiastic and talented – more talented than me. "It's a unit of software developers and language experts with a mix of skills to create all this work. "We're creating apps that work in Welsh and showing that it's possible to build resources that expand the use of Welsh and normalise the language in the tech world." He has also developed key databases and platforms for Welsh dictionaries, including the digital version of Geiriadur yr Academi and Y Porth Termau Cenedlaethol. More than 20 years ago, Mr Jones began researching speech technology for Welsh. He has developed synthetic voices for people unable to speak due to medical conditions, as well as for games and other digital products. In 2017, he created Lleisiwr, a tool that allows NHS Wales patients to generate a synthetic Welsh version of their voice before losing the ability to speak. A bilingual version followed in 2020. He is currently working with the NHS and a Scottish company to develop synthetic voices with different accents for children and young people in Wales. Many of his innovations are integrated into Macsen, the first Welsh-language voice assistant. Macsen can be controlled entirely in Welsh and offers news, weather, music, translation, and more. Mr Jones has also been instrumental in including Welsh in Mozilla's international Common Voice project, which crowdsources voice data to support speech technology in multiple languages. READ MORE: Fundraiser aims to make dreams of teenager battling rare heart cancer a reality He helped establish the Master's degree in Language Technologies at Bangor University, where he now lectures. He also supervised the first PhD in speech technology through the medium of Welsh and authored the first Welsh-language handbook on language and speech technologies. The Science and Technology Medal was first awarded in 2004. The inaugural winner was Professor Glyn O Phillips, a scientist from Wrexham and the founding head of the North East Wales Institute, now Wrexham University.
