- Swansea University launched Academi Hywel Teifi in 2010. The Academi’s name is a tribute to Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards, who spent his academic career at Swansea University, and it celebrates his unique contribution as a teacher, scholar, broadcaster, politician and defender and promoter of the Welsh language, especially in his support of Welsh learners.
- The establishment of the Academi Hywel Teifi enables the University to support the Welsh Assembly Government’s Welsh Medium Education Strategy by increasing the number of students who receive their higher education through the medium of Welsh.
- The Academi combines the Welsh Department - a department with a long and distinguished tradition of outstanding intensive research - with the widely recognised community based activity of the Welsh for Adults Centre in South West Wales.
- Academi Hywel Teifi is located at the heart of the University campus and currently has 26 staff, including lecturers, tutors and administrative staff. For more details see: www.swansea.ac.uk/cy/cofrestrfa/YGymraeg/PopethynGymraeg/AcademiHywelTeifi/
Winner of Academi Hywel Teifi creative writing competition announced
Carwyn Graves, from Whitchurch, Cardiff, has today (Thursday 14 April 2011) been announced the winner of the first creative writing competition run by Swansea University’s Academi Hywel Teifi.
The competition, for year 12 and 13 school pupils, was launched in August 2010. A £100 prize and a master class with writers Dr Fflur Dafydd, Dr Christine James or Professor Tudur Hallam was offered to the most creative and promising work written in Welsh.
Pupils were asked to compose a poem, a short story or an essay along the theme of ‘Moving Again'. According to judge, Robert Rhys, Reader in Welsh at Academi Hywel Teifi, the standard was high and Carwyn Graves, a year 13 pupil from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, Cardiff, was a worthy winner.
Robert Rhys said: "A number of promising works were submitted, but Carwyn Graves’s short story showed a great deal of promise. His writing is strong, imaginative and makes orginal and exciting use of the subject. He makes observant comments about corruption in our society and the environment and also conveys the feelings of the main characters as he faces the events that unfold."
Carwyn is currently studying Welsh, French, German and Maths at Ysgol Glantaf and this is the first time he has entered a creative writing competition.
He said: "My interest in literature comes form my interest in the world around me. Everyone responds to their own surroundings, and the stories about them are an integral part of everyday life for us all. Recording and expressing this response is what I do in my writing."
Carwyn's success was recognised when broadcaster Huw Edwards presented him with his prize at an event at Swansea University. Huw Edwards is the son of the late Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards.
Staff at Academi Hywel Teifi hope that this success will inspire Carwyn Graves and the other entrants to continue to write in the Welsh language.
Robert Rhys concluded: "No-one would be more proud of Carwyn's achievement than Hywel Teifi Edwards - it is most appropriate that the Academi which bears his name should be awarding this prize."
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