In 1983 he won the Welsh Arts Council prize for his volume of poetry, "Grassholm", and in 1986 he was the Chaired Bard at the National Eisteddfod in Fishguard for his ode, "The Cloud".[3] His best-known publication was his metrical translation of the Psalms from the original Hebrew Salmau Cân Newydd (2008).
Gwilym died aged 66 on 31 July 2016 from cancer.[1]