Róisín Egenton

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

Róisín is the third New York Rose to have ever won the title, the previous New York winner being Marie Soden in 1976.

During her year, Róisín guest appeared on a number of television programmes including RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Open House, and Up for the Match, as well as TV3's Ireland AM. She also participated in radio & newspaper interviews, and in magazine photo shoots. 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".

Róisín received an Honours degree in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. A keen musician, she was principal violinist with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic and the New Jersey Youth Symphony, and she also performed in New York's Carnegie Hall.

In July/August 2007, Roisin was one-third of an act called "The Roses", along with previous Rose of Tralee winners Orla O'Shea and Orla Tobin, who competed in RTÉ One's Charity You're A Star. They appeared behalf of the Irish Heart Foundation. The group made it through 7 of the 10 nights live on national television before being voted off.

In 2008, Roisin won the AIMS (Association of Irish Musical Societies) award for Best Comedienne for her role as Ado Annie in Kilkenny Musical Society's production of "Oklahoma".

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before = Geraldine O'Grady
after = Lisa Manning
title = Rose of Tralee
years = August 2000 - August 2001|

ources

* [http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0808/nationwide.html Roisin live on the RTE TV programme "Nationwide", Aug 2001]
* [http://www.independent.ie/national-news/big-apples-rose-woos-tralee-to-win-the-crown-370684.html Irish Independent, Aug 2000: Big Apple's Rose woos Tralee to win the crown]
* [http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2000/09/30/current/ipage_1.htm Irish Examiner: A sporting lad is just the ticket for fun loving Róisín]
* [http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0822/rose.html RTE News: New York contestant crowned Millennium Rose of Tralee]
* [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-64403222.html The People (London, England), August 2000: Rosy ratings the key to the Rose]
* [http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/2007/0730//chairtyyourastarjuly07.html: RTÉ'S Charity You're a Star Line-Up is finally Unveiled]
* List of people from New Jersey
* [http://www.aims.ie/awards/winners_gilbert.asp: AIMS Award Winners, 2008 ]