Culture

Young singer thanks mentor after winning prestigious Eisteddfod award

06 Aug 2026 2 minute read

Ffion Mair Thomas, from Crymych in Pembrokeshire, won the prestigious Osborne Roberts Memorial Award

Nation.Cymru staff

A young singer has thanked the tutor who spotted her potential at an early age after winning one of the National Eisteddfod’s most prestigious musical awards.

Ffion Mair Thomas, from Crymych in Pembrokeshire, won the Osborne Roberts Memorial Award, known as the Blue Ribbon, for soloists aged between 19 and 25.

The competition has been held for 75 years and has provided an early platform for singers who have gone on to prominent careers, including Sir Bryn Terfel, Trystan Llŷr Griffiths and Steffan Lloyd Owen.

Ffion has just completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is now considering the next stage of her career.

Following her victory, she paid tribute to her tutor and mentor Eilir Thomas, who was himself honoured at last year’s National Eisteddfod with the T H Parry-Williams Medal.

She said: “His influence has been absolutely invaluable. He recognised my potential and tutored me from an early age. Thank you for everything.

“This award will certainly help in my development as a singer.”

The award commemorates Thomas Osborne Roberts, one of the leading figures in Welsh music during the early 20th century.

A composer, accompanist, conductor, teacher and critic, he was respected by contemporaries including Ralph Vaughan Williams and W S Gwynn Williams, with a number of his songs remaining part of the Welsh musical repertoire.

Roberts initially trained as a land surveyor but abandoned the profession to concentrate on music.

During the 1930s he moved to London, where he worked as a teacher and accompanist.

His second wife was the celebrated contralto Maggie Jones, better known professionally as Leila Megàne, whose international career included performances in Milan, New York and London.

Roberts died shortly after serving as an adjudicator at the 1948 National Eisteddfod in Bridgend.

1951

The memorial award bearing his name was established in 1951 and has since become one of the Eisteddfod’s most prominent competitions for emerging singers.

To mark its 75th anniversary, previous winners were invited to take part in this year’s ceremony at Eisteddfod y Garreg Las in north Pembrokeshire.

Twenty-eight former winners joined Ffion on the Pavilion stage to celebrate the competition’s history and its role in the careers of generations of Welsh singers.

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