23 lucky Irish & International Roses picked for 2011 Rose of Tralee International

IT was lucky number seven for the Roses representing Down, Laois, Roscommon, Tipperary, Derry, Donegal and Wexford after they were chosen last night to go forward to the Rose of Tralee International Festival in August.

They were selected from 28 Rose contestants who took part in the Irish Regional Final of the Rose of Tralee which was held during a five-day fun-packed festival in Portlaoise.

In all, 51 Roses took part in the event which included American, British, European/Middle East Regional Selections at the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel. Joining the Irish Centres in Tralee will be 16 Roses from the rest of the world – USA (9), Canada (3), Great Britain (2), Germany and Dubai.

The General Manager of the Rose of Tralee, Oliver Hurley, congratulated every one of the Roses who represented their communities with great distinction this weekend.

"As an organisation, we have been overwhelmed by the calibre of each lady who has represented her centre with dignity and grace throughout the five days in Portlaoise. We look forward to welcoming all 51 Roses to Tralee in August. It is also a pleasure to extend a special word of thanks and congratulations to the people of Laois who played a major part in making this year's Regional Finals such a success. We look forward to returning here again in 2012."

Nine more Roses will travel to Tralee for the Festival in August – Kerry, Dublin, Cork, London, Sydney, Perth, New Zealand, Queensland and South Australia.

The Rose of Tralee International Festival will take place from the 19th to the 23rd August with the new Rose of Tralee being crowned in the Dome on Tuesday 23rd August. Full details of the 2011 Festival and the Roses are available from www.roseoftralee.ie.

Big Apple Caitlinn McNeill	Boston New England Moira Sullivan	Chicago Siobhan Carroll	Derby Niamh McTage
Derry Catherine Feeney	Donegal Maria McCole	Down Nicole Curran	Dubai Grainne Boyle
Edmonton Tara Keigher	Germany Saoirse Fitzgerald	Laois Sinead Fennell	New York Erin Loughran
Ottawa Kate Scott	Philadelphia Beth Keeley	Roscommon Roisin Guihen	San Francisco Shelia Ashtiani
Southern California Molly O'Keefe	Sunderalnd Niamh O'Connell	Texas Danielle Ybarra	Tipperday Noirin Ryan
Toronto Aileen Doyle	Washington DC Dorothy Moriarty Henggeler	Wexford Mary Kehoe