Hi Sara,
There is quite a lot on the forum already from previous years that could be helpful, e.g. Dysgwr y Flwyddyn/Learner of the Year 2015 and not a lot has changed apart from the location of the first round.
Here is the link to all the learners’ competition categories https://www.eisteddfod.wales/competitions/learners
and here https://www.eisteddfod.wales/competitions/learners/welsh-learner-year is information specific to this year’s Dysgwr y Flwyddyn including the forms to download.
I must say I’m impressed with the Eisteddfod website this year. They’ve done a lot of work on it and it’s a lot easier to navigate and find things.
I’ll be mentioning this in the email this week, so I’m sure some that have entered before will be happy to pop by and answer any of your queries.
From my own perspective -
I think I sweated more over the written entry part than I needed to as it’s not really important. Look on the Eisteddfod website and it gives an idea of the kinds of topics they want to know about, so just address those and you should be right.
Once that’s sent in, see if you can have a few practice interviews with others that have done it before. Usually there are a number of people willing to help you out over Skype, and that’s all you need really. The main thing is to go along and enjoy the day. You never really know from one year to the next what they are looking for. It seems to vary with the panel and the range of candidates they get on any particular year, but I think enthusiasm and a demonstration of how you use Welsh in the community help in a big way.