The Housewife of the Year competition: ‘I was the last winner. In my own little head, I am still reigning – I still have the tiara’

In 1967, a new contest was launched in Ireland that would go on to become a national institution, one that would prize, above all, the art and labour of domesticity: the Housewife of the Year, or, as it would later become known, the Calor Kosangas Housewife of the Year. Dubbed by some as ‘The Rose of Tralee for mammies’, housewives would take to the stage to discuss their home, their hobbies, ‘Himself’, and how many children they had, with host Gay Byrne. They were often asked if they would consider ‘going again’.

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