Sinead Dowd, the newly chosen 2023 Laois Rose, was not the only worthy winner on Easter Sunday night.
Also awarded were prizes worth some €800 for the best dressed man and woman, and the best poster.
The posters are a huge part of the night, combining art and devotion and comedy, with plenty of sore arms by the end of the night such was the waving and cheering by supporters.
Witty Mountmellick mammy Annmarie Ward decided that her daughter, teacher Anna Ward deserved to be a Barbie.
The winning poster, with judges favouring the homemade kind, was supporting Rose entrant Ciara Delaney, by her best friends Aine Lynch and Ellen Bollard (below). They had gathered up brilliant photos of Ciara since she was a baby.
The winning Best Dressed were Paddy Brennan from Clara who wore a snappy three piece suit he'd bought a week earlier, and Lorraine Delahunty from Cullohill, cousin of the winning Laois Rose Sinead Dowd, who bought her orange suit in Dunnes Stores.
Laois Rose 2023 Sinead Dowd was selected from 17 amazing entrants on the night. She will now represent Laois in the Rose of Tralee International Festival in Kerry next August.
