Phil Davies, Chairman of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, attended an assembly at Ysgol Dinas Brân to announce the winner of this year’s Peace Message competition: Alex Pasley, from year 11. The official commendation will be given by Eisteddfod President Terry Waite CBE as part of the Peace Message presentation during festival week.

The Peace Message is an integral part of the International Festival, which was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and it still retains strong links with the United Nations. Over the years the Peace Message has become increasingly dramatised through song and dance and last year it was decided to change the format once more by involving children of secondary school age, with Ysgol Dinas Brân chosen as the first school to take part in this new initiative.

Competition winner Alex will be officially acknowledged on the Eisteddfod stage by Terry Waite CBE, who is currently President of the Eisteddfod, and the winning piece will be published in the programme.

Executive Director of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Mervyn Cousins sent his best wishes to Alex “It’s fantastic that Llangollen continues to send out these strong messages of peace which are so easily overlooked but are more important than ever during this current international climate”.

Pupils of Ysgol Dinas Brân were invited to take part in the competition to submit a written piece of prose or poetry, based on this year’s theme “Youth of the World”. The entries were judged by Llangollen Chairman; Phil Davies, Enid and Mike Law of the Music & Staging Committee, and Christine Dukes, Llangollen Fundraising Manager.

The winning piece of prose entitled "A Beautiful, Brilliant Word" sees 16 year-old Alex Pasley compare the world in which he lives with the famine ridden, devastated countries where some children must live.

The piece, which quotes "Surely as a ‘developed’ country, we can stop this. We can feed the world, we can save the world, we can save the world from war" is a commendable example of how youngsters are eager to rectify the wrongs that they perceive in their world.

Visiting Ysgol Dinas Brân, Phil Davies said “Congratulations to Alex for an excellent prize-winning Peace Message; it is wonderful to see that peace in the world is so important to the youngsters of today, and Llangollen of course has such an important part to play in that. For the festival it is another exciting example of the active involvement of young people at many levels.”

As winner of the competition Alex will have the honour of presenting “A Beautiful, Brilliant Word” as part of the three Peace Message presentations to be performed during this year’s Festival, firstly as part of International Children’s Day on Tuesday 7th July and on International Family Day on the Saturday. It will also be a key feature in another Eisteddfod first for this year preceding ‘Sound of Silence’ (International Youth Day, Thursday) where all the children on the Eisteddfod field will surround the Pavilion and hold hands for a minute’s silence, sending out a strong and unique message of peace to the world.

Ysgol Dinas Brân has had strong links to Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod since 1947 when it was first held on the town Recreation Ground, the playing fields of Llangollen Grammar School, as the school was formerly called. Since then, the school has made a huge contribution to the Festival, hosting rehearsals for celebrity concert performers, being used for the competitions’ preliminary stages and dance workshops. Phil Davies acknowledges the work of the school “Many of the staff at Ysgol Dinas Brân are also members of the Eisteddfod committees and work tirelessly through the week of the Festival to ensure the smooth operation of the school’s contribution, thank you.”

Ysgol Dinas Brân will mirror the ethic of the International Eisteddfod as it holds the World Youth Skills Challenge 2009 between June 29th and July 4th, where teams from 14 partner schools from around the world will participate in a variety of competitions and activities.

The link between Dinas Brân and Llangollen Eisteddfod will also be celebrated when Mary Mestecky, author of children’s novel ‘Adventure at Dinas Brân’, will visit the Festival on Saturday 12th July. Mary Mestecky will do a reading from the novel, which tells the story of a group of dragons who visit the Llangollen area and are inspired by the International Festival, she will also do a book signing as part of Saturday’s International Family Day.