Lois Medi from Penrhosgarnedd has become the first woman in the history of the Urdd National Eisteddfod to win the Chair twice.

Lois first won the prestigious prize for poetry at the 2024 festival in Maldwyn and is the first person to win the chair twice since Gwynfor Dafydd in 2016 and 2017.

Originally from the Bangor area, Lois attended Ysgol y Garnedd, where she won her first Eisteddfod chair, before going to Ysgol Tryfan and Ysgol David Hughes in Menai Bridge.

After graduating from LSE in social anthropology, Lois moved to Patagonia where she is currently working.

Two years ago, she also won the D. Gwyn Evans Trophy from Cymdeithas Barddas.

Last year, she took the Trevelin Eisteddfod and the Harp Award, the main prize for literary at the Porth Madryn Eisteddfod in Patagonia.

Lois said: "Since childhood, creative writing has been a delight. Poetry is a such a special medium, it brings order to my thoughts about the world around me.”

”I would like to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me to express my creativity, especially my parents, my sisters Marged and Sara, and my partner, Iestyn."

The competitors were tasked with composing a poem or poems on strict metre or vers libre, of no more than 100 lines, on the theme 'Bridge'.

Twelve entries were received this year with Lois's winning work exploring the bridge between real life and the world of technology.

Judges Manon Wynn Davies and Rocet Arwel Jones said that Lois's work was worthy of the Eisteddfod Chair this year because "every poem in the collection is mature and contemporary and deserves its place, offering incisive and timely commentary on today's society."

Lois’s work has also been published in Ffosfforws, O Ffrwyth y Gangen Hon and Barddas.

Her winning work at Eisteddfod yr Urdd Maldwyn was published by Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp as part of the Urdd's partnership to publish the winning works from the main literary competitions.

Runner-up was Nanw Maelor from Mold and third place went to Steffan Rhys Nicholas from Aberystwyth.

The winning work, along with the adjudication, will be available to read in Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp publications after the ceremony. The ceremony was sponsored by the Ivor and Aeres Evans Charitable Trust.

Siôn Edwards from Llanfaelog in Anglesey is the carpenter responsible for this year's Chair, based on a design by Caerwen-based architect Rhiannon Williams of DEWIS architecture, with sponsorship from the Anglesey Agricultural Society.

Rhiannon's design was based on the theme 'rivers to the sea' and also featured the island's windmills.

The first, second and third prize-winners in the literary competitions throughout the week will have the opportunity to attend the Olwen Course at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, Literature Wales, in memory of Olwen Dafydd.