Cyfrwng Award 2007: Peter Stead
The 2007 Cyfrwng Award recipient is Professor Peter Stead, retired History lecturer at Swansea University and author, broadcaster and cultural historian.
Professor Stead was honoured with this unique award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the advancement of the media not only in Wales but also on an international stage.
The award was presented to Professor Stead by his long-time friend Professor Dai Smith, Chairman of the Arts Council of Wales and the Raymond Williams Research Chair in Cultural History at Swansea University. The celebrations were held at the Mermaid Restaurant in The Mumbles and the dinner was a fitting finale for the Cyfrwng 2007 Conference at Swansea University.
Professor Stead has, and continues, to contribute to the work of promoting the media in Wales in countless ways. He is a prolific author on the history of the cinema and the theatre and amongst his many publications are studies on the work of the dramatist and scriptwriter Dennis Potter and the actor Richard Burton. His most recent media-related publication is Acting Wales: Stars of Stage and Screen (University of Wales Press, 2002).
He also broadcasts regularly on behalf of the media on cultural and political matters. He was a member of the Government Panel that chose Liverpool as the European Capital of Culture 2008 and he was also a member of the Sgrîn Cymru Wales board, Wales’ former media agency. He is an active member of the Institute of Welsh Affairs and the Chair of the Dylan Thomas Prize.
Presenting the Award Professor Dai Smith said, "Peter has always refused to be confined by artificial boundaries and so, as a university teacher and scholar or critic and broadcaster, he ignores them in favour of the pleasures of culture, high and low and sporting, as a whole way of life. Above all, he has seen South Wales as a local crucible of the global power of acting in the films and theatre he relishes and celebrates. For me, it was a great pleasure to present one of my oldest friends with Cyfrwng's Annual Award for 2007."
