FORMER Aberystwyth University law professor Emyr Lewis has won the Chair at this year’s National Eisteddfod at Garreg Las, triumphing in one of the strongest competitions for decades.

Lewis, who served as Head of the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University and is now Professor Emeritus, claimed the prestigious literary honour for his winning awdl on the theme Llinell | Llinellau (Line | Lines).

It is the second time Lewis has won the Chair, having previously been successful at the 1994 Neath and District National Eisteddfod. He also won the Crown at the 1998 Bro Ogwr Eisteddfod.

This year’s competition attracted 16 entries, the highest number received since the Newport National Eisteddfod in 1988. Competitors were asked to submit either an awdl or a collection of poems in full cynghanedd, using more than one traditional metre and consisting of up to 250 lines.

The adjudicators were Idris Reynolds, Mererid Hopwood and Carwyn Eckley.

Presenting the adjudication, Reynolds said the subject had given competitors exceptional freedom and had produced an outstanding competition. He revealed that two entries had emerged as clear frontrunners.

One, submitted under the bardic name Pwll y Wrach, was praised as a masterly work rooted in the history, landscape and literary traditions of west Wales. The poem drew together eight centuries of Welsh poetic heritage through references to figures including Lord Rhys, Waldo Williams and the literary family of Cilie.

However, the judges concluded that it was ultimately surpassed by the originality and imagination of Lewis’s winning entry, submitted under the letter A.

Reynolds described the victorious awdl as “a riot of an awdl”, saying it took the traditional eisteddfod form into entirely new territory. The poem follows a strange and unsettling train journey through the subconscious, populated by mysterious birds, surreal landscapes and dreamlike encounters.

“The birds that are not birds” became a recurring image throughout the work as the narrator travelled through a nightmare world before finding relief in the gentle greeting of a companion at dawn.

Praising its inventiveness and emotional depth, Reynolds said the judges regarded it as an “exhilarating and tender awdl”, adding that the competition was among the finest seen since the National Eisteddfod at Cardigan in 1976.

Born in London, Lewis moved to Cardiff with his family at the age of six. He attended Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain, Bryn-taf Primary School and Rhydfelen Comprehensive School, where his interest in cynghanedd was inspired by Welsh teacher Nia Daniel. He later developed his craft under the guidance of the renowned englyn poet T Arfon Williams.

He holds a degree in English from the University of Cambridge and a law degree from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Alongside his academic and legal career, Lewis has established himself as one of Wales’s leading poets. He has published three collections, Chwarae Mig, Amser Amherffaith/Dysgu Deud Celwydd yn Tsiec and twt lol, and was a regular member of the Morgannwg Ymryson team. For the past four years he has also adjudicated the Englyn y Dydd competition at the Ymryson.

Lewis worked as a lawyer until 2019 before being appointed Head of the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University. He has also worked at Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre and served on a Council of Europe committee monitoring the treatment of minority languages.

The Chair was presented by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, while the monetary prize was donated by Geraint and Siân James of Siop Awen Teifi, Cardigan.