Posted on 10 March 2011
Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, together with the 2010 UW Dylan Thomas Prize Winner, poet Elyse Fenton
The St David's Society of the State of New York recently awarded their highest honour – the William R Hopkins medal – to Catherine Zeta Jones, in recognition of her continuous efforts as an ambassador for Wales and for her generous support of Welsh causes.
A small contingent from the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize was present at the star-studded ceremony in New York’s prestigious Yale Club on Friday 4 March, taking the opportunity to raise the Prize’s profile on the international stage.
Catherine is the founding international ambassador for the Dylan Thomas Prize and its chairman, Peter Stead, was delighted to have the opportunity to bring her up to date on developments and introduce her to the 2010 winner, American poet Elyse Fenton. He told us that Catherine “was obviously delighted to meet Elyse, as poetry is a particular love of hers. In fact, she made a point of saying how pleased she was that a poet had won the Prize for the first time”.
The £30,000 Dylan Thomas Prize, which is sponsored by the University of Wales, is designed to encourage creative talent in writers under the age of 30 and is open to any work, from any genre, which has been published in the English language.
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For press and media information, please contact Tom Barrett, Communications Officer, University of Wales: t.barrett@wales.ac.uk