Professor Hallam received a standing ovation during the award ceremony. Credit: Eisteddfod Genedlaethol
Tudur Hallam, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Welsh at Swansea University, has been awarded the Chair at the 2025 National Eisteddfod in Wrexham.
The Chair is awarded for an awdl (a long poem in strict metre) or a collection of poems in full cynghanedd, using more than one of the traditional Welsh metres, up to 250 lines, on the theme “City.” The judges were Peredur Lynch, Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, and Menna Elfyn.
The winning awdl opens with a girls’ football match in Carmarthenshire, coached by the poet, before shifting to Glangwili Hospital, where he receives a devastating cancer diagnosis.
In an emotional ceremony on Friday 8 July, the audience rose to its feet to applaud the married father-of-three as the Archdruid, the head of the Gorsedd of the Bards, greeted him.
Professor Hallam’s brother, Gwion, also addressed the crowd with a heartfelt poem.
Speaking after the ceremony, Professor Hallam said: "I believe writing can be a great help to people, and personally I wanted to write immediately after the diagnosis, but I couldn’t.
"I think I was in a state of shock, and then in January, after receiving bad news that the treatment meant to buy me time hadn’t worked, suddenly the words started to flow.
"I feel happy, proud that I competed because I wasn’t sure whether I should submit the awdl or not. I’ve been quite conflicted about it because the content of the awdl is so emotional, but today feels like a celebration. Now I’m glad I’ve created something positive out of a very difficult situation.”
Fifteen poets competed for the Chair this year, the highest number since 1989, and the judges said the standard of entries was "exceptionally high".
Judge Menna Elfyn said: “Other Prifeirdd have written about the death of family members or the tragic loss of friends or acquaintances, but this is the first time I’ve come across someone writing about their own condition and vulnerability—raw and without a trace of self-pity.
“This is a poem that will undoubtedly be widely read, especially by those who are in need and hungry for poetry as balm for the heart in harsh times. That is what poetry should do—remind us of ourselves. And this poem certainly sends shivers down the spine, but also joyfully echoes what it means to live, from the mouth of a poet singing from the taut strings of his fine muse.”
This is Professor Hallam’s second time winning the Chair, the highest honour in Welsh writing, having first won in 2010 at the Blaenau Gwent Eisteddfod.