Róisín Egenton

23-year old Róisín Ryan Egenton, representing New York, was crowned the first Rose of Tralee of the new millennium on Tuesday 22nd August 2000 in the Festival Dome, Tralee, in front of a live audience of over 2,000. Over 1.3m viewers watched the first half of the selection on television Monday night and an estimated 1.5m tuned in again on the Tuesday night night, the biggest audience ever breaking all records for RTE Ireland.

Róisín, who was principal violinist with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic and performed in Carnegie Hall, enchanted the audience with her singing and violin playing on stage. Also performing live during a break in the first night were popular boy-band Westlife.

Róisín is the third New York Rose to have ever won the title, the previous New York winner being Marie Soden in 1976. As well as the prestige of the title, she received a cheque for £4,000; £1,000 in SuperValu vouchers; a unique Waterford Crystal Trophy; a WAP phone and handheld computer; a year's supply of beauty treatments and advice from Oil of Olay; a year's supply of Cadbury Roses; and a Hyundai Accent sponsored by Eircell.

In the weeks following her win, Róisín moved from the USA to Galway, Ireland.

Always in demand during her year, Roisin guest appeared on a number of television programmes including RTE's The Late Late Show, Open House, and Up for the Match; as well as TV3's Morning Ireland. She also appeared on numerous radio shows, newspaper interviews, and magazine photo shoots for VIP. The weekly newspaper Ireland on Sunday included her in their list of the "Top 30 Hottest Women in Ireland", the monthly magazine Irish America named her one of the "Top 100 Irish Americans of 2000". Throughout her year, she travelled extensively throughout Ireland; California and NY in the USE; and throughout Australia.

Following her tenure as Rose of Tralee, Róisín has continued to make guest appearances at a number of events. She was Guest of Honour at the 2002 Galway City St. Patrick's Day Parade, chosen to mark her achievement, her choice of a new home, and to reflect the bond between Ireland and Irish America.

Róisín received an Honours degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Her parents Michael and Katherine are originally from Ireland, Meath and Limerick/Tipperary respectively. She has one brother, Cormac. Though representing New York in the contest, Róisín is a native of Fanwood, NJ, USA.

Sources

• Rose of Tralee official site
• Roisin Egenton at IMDb
• Live on the RTE TV programme Nationwide
• New York Rose, Róisín Egenton, Crowned Rose of Tralee 2000
• Irish Voice, Sept 2005: A Rose Is a Rose Is Roisin
• Galway Advertiser, March 2002: St Patrick’s Day Parade 2002
• Irish Independent, Aug 2000: Big Apple's Rose woos Tralee to win the crown
• Irish Examiner: A sporting lad is just the ticket for fun loving Róisín
• Irish Voice, Feb 2001: Roisin the Rose Returns Home
• Queensland Irish Association
• RTE News: New York contestant crowned Millennium Rose of Tralee
• The People (London, England), August 2000: Rosy ratings the key to the Rose