{{Short description|Annual gay event in Dublin, 1987–2012}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=December 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} [[File:AMI GCN Front Covers 2006-2008.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Covers of [[Gay Community News (Dublin)|''Gay Community News'']] showing AMI host [[Panti]] preparing for the contest. 2005 winner Miss Heidi Konnt is also featured.]]
The '''Alternative Miss Ireland''' ('''AMI''') was an annual [[Homosexuality|gay]] event which took place in [[Dublin]], Ireland, on the Sunday closest to [[St. Patrick's Day]], 17 March. It occurred over three-and-a-half hours and featured a pastiche of the beauty pageant rounds inspired by [[Andrew Logan (sculptor)|Andrew Logan]]'s [[Alternative Miss World]], with day-wear, swimwear and evening-wear rounds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://amw.andrewlogan.com/ |title=Andrew Logan's Alternative Miss World |accessdate=2009-03-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207185334/http://amw.andrewlogan.com/ |archivedate=7 February 2011 }}</ref> It is commonly shortened to AMI, both as its initials and a wordplay on the French for "friend". It began in 1987 and ended in 2012.<ref name="cancelled">{{cite news | url = http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/1015/1224305819763.html | title = 'Gay Christmas' is cancelled. So long, Alternative Miss Ireland | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015231920/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/1015/1224305819763.html | archivedate = 2011-10-15 | newspaper = [[The Irish Times]]| date = 15 October 2011 }}</ref>
The event promotional material states: "Alternative Miss Ireland (AMI) is an annual beauty pageant that is open to men, women and animals. It is also a non-profit collective dedicated to raising money for Irish HIV/AIDS organisations (over €235,000.00 raised since 1996)."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.queerid.ie/topic.aspx?topicid=15228&pageno=1 |title=The page cannot be displayed |access-date=17 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104211215/http://www.queerid.ie/topic.aspx?topicid=15228&pageno=1 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
It features on the front cover each year of the March issue of [[Gay Community News (Dublin)|''Gay Community News'']] magazine and is the highlight of Ireland's calendar of gay-themed events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_219.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-03-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708012253/http://www.gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_219.pdf |archivedate=8 July 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_207.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-03-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708010358/http://www.gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_207.pdf |archivedate=8 July 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_195.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-03-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320002752/http://www.gcn.ie/attachments/archive/gcn_195.pdf |archivedate=20 March 2009 }}</ref> Coverage by mainstream news media is muted, possibly because it clashes with reporting of St. Patrick's Day, with occasional pieces in [[The Irish Times]], and a documentary ''A Bit of the Other'' commissioned by [[RTÉ]] television.<ref>{{cite news | date = 25 July 2004 | first=Anushka | last=Asthana |author-link=Anushka Asthana| title = Report: Gay culture in Ireland | url= http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article460135.ece | location= London | work= [[The Times]] | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110616204829/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article460135.ece | archivedate = 2011-06-16 }}</ref>
==History== The first contest was held in Sides nightclub on [[Dame Street]] on 1 April 1987, followed by a hiatus until it began again in its present form during the mid-1990s. Upon recommencement, it was held in The Red Box, POD for the first few years. It switched to the [[Olympia Theatre, Dublin|Olympia Theatre]] in 2000 to accommodate its increasing popularity. It is a fund-raising event for HIV/AIDS charities such as Cáirde and [[St. James's Hospital]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stjames.ie/AboutUs/Donations/FundraisingNews/NewsArchive/AlternativeMissIreland/ |title=St. James's Hospital - Alternative Miss Ireland |accessdate=2009-03-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719182216/http://www.stjames.ie/AboutUs/Donations/FundraisingNews/NewsArchive/AlternativeMissIreland/ |archivedate=19 July 2011 }}</ref> Although open to any entrant (a dog was once a contestant), it features mainly gay-themed entrants and is commonly known as ''Gay Christmas'' since its host, [[Panti]], used that term regularly in her opening routines.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgq9JUCLAYo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/pgq9JUCLAYo |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=Alternative Miss Ireland XII: Panti intro part 1/3|date=10 February 2007|work=YouTube|accessdate=2016-11-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://lowlyjourno.blogspot.com/2009/02/alternative-arrangements.html|title=Declan Cashin|author=Declan Cashin|website=Lowlyjourno.blogspot.com|accessdate=2016-11-04}}</ref>
It features entries from heats around Ireland including Alternative Miss [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Alternative Miss [[Limerick]], Alternative Miss Philippines (from a [[Philippines]] community in Ireland) and the rest of the approximately ten contestants enter directly.
In 1998, [[Veda Beaux Reves|Miss Veda Beaux Reves]], who had just lost first place to Miss Tampy Lilette, allegedly threw her Golden Briquette trophy at the judges in a tantrum.<ref>GCN March 2006, Page 12</ref> At the 2007 contest, the host Panti was surprised by a message from her hero [[Dolly Parton]].<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq0_D06miTg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/Lq0_D06miTg |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=Panti and Dolly Parton, AMI XIII, March 11, 2007|date=13 March 2007|work=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It is traditional that the previous year's winner does a new performance after the interval, as Miss Heidi Konnt did in 2006.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkPqc55m0s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/BwkPqc55m0s |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=Alternative Miss Ireland Pageant Part 2|date=7 October 2008|work=YouTube|accessdate=2016-11-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
There is a large production team involved, known as the Alternative Miss Ireland Family.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.alternativemissireland.com/page.aspx?mode=blog&tag=collective&page=Pageant |title=Archived copy |access-date=21 March 2009 |archive-date=22 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222151234/http://www.alternativemissireland.com/page.aspx?mode=blog&tag=collective&page=Pageant |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was reported in October 2011 that the final pageant would take place in 2012. One organiser said, "people have less time to pull everything together".<ref name="cancelled" />
Critic Fintan Walsh has written about the contest in the article 'Homleysexuality and the 'Beauty' Pageant' (2009).
==Winners== * 1987 Miss Isle – Alternative Miss Ireland I * 1996 Miss Tress – Alternative Miss Ireland II * 1997 Miss [[Shirley Temple Bar]] – Alternative Miss Ireland III<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDk2iiuT6uQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/PDk2iiuT6uQ |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=AMI 1997 Shirley Temple Bar's Winning Performance|date=25 October 2008|work=YouTube|accessdate=2016-11-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref> * 1998 Miss Tampy Lilette – Alternative Miss Ireland IV * 1999 Miss [[Veda Beaux Reves]] – Alternative Miss Ireland V * 2000 Miss Siobhán Broadway – Alternative Miss Ireland VI<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqT6rzCKZ2g |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/TqT6rzCKZ2g |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=AMI 2000 Siobhain Broadway's Winning Performance|date=26 October 2008|work=YouTube|accessdate=2016-11-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref> * 2001 Miss Tina Leggs Tantrum – Alternative Miss Ireland VII * 2002 Miss Sid Viscous – Alternative Miss Ireland VIII * 2003 Miss Alter Ego – Alternative Miss Ireland IX * 2004 Miss Twirly Chassy – Alternative Miss Ireland X * 2005 Miss Heidi Konnt – Alternative Miss Ireland XI * 2006 Miss Funtime Gustavo – Alternative Miss Ireland XII * 2007 Joanna Ryde – Alternative Miss Ireland XIII * 2008 Sheila Fits-Patrick – Alternative Miss Ireland XIV * 2009 Miss Smilin' Kanker – Alternative Miss Ireland XV * 2010 Miss Peaches Queen – Alternative Miss Ireland XV * 2011 Miss Mangina Jones – Alternative Miss Ireland XVII * 2012 [[Sinéad Burke|Miss Minnie Mélange]] – Alternative Miss Ireland XVIII<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lSfNnfP64w|title=Minnie Mélange wins Alternative Miss Ireland 2012|date=19 March 2012|work=YouTube|accessdate=2016-11-04}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref>
==List of past judges== {{no references|section|date=October 2024}} * [[Adele King|Twink]] * [[Van Morrison]] * [[Anna Nolan]] * [[Louis Walsh]] * [[Katherine Lynch]] * [[Tonie Walsh]] * [[Linda Martin]] * [[Marc Almond]] * [[Brendan Courtney]] * [[Dorothy Cross]] * [[Maria Doyle Kennedy]] * [[Brenda Fricker]] * [[Nell McCafferty]] * [[Michelle Rocca]] * [[Agnes Bernelle]] * Senators [[David Norris (politician)|David Norris]] and [[Ivana Bacik]] * [[The Rubberbandits]] * [[Bourgeois & Maurice]] {{incomplete list|date=March 2009}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last= Walsh |first= Fintan |title= 'Homleysexuality and the "Beauty" Pageant,' in Walsh and Brady, eds. Crossroads: Performance Studies and Irish Culture |year= 2009 |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |location= Basingstoke and New York}}
==External links== * {{official|http://www.alternativemissireland.com}}
{{LGBT in Ireland}}
[[Category:Beauty pageants in Ireland]] [[Category:Recurring events established in 1987]] [[Category:Irish awards]]