Shona is crowned the Queen’s ChoiceMarca festival award for North Tipp representative

Over the bank holiday weekend, twenty-nine-year-old Shona Cullen was crowned Queen’s Choice at the 2025 Queen of the Castle festival in Cahir.

This festival, hosted by Macra na Feirme, is a festival where women get to come together from various clubs around the country to enjoy music, activities and celebrations whilst also competing to win the festivals’ competition.

“It’s an opportunity for the girls to get together, to have a bit of a competition and to get to know each other,” explained Shona from Borrisoleigh Macra na Feirme.

Katie Hurley from Carbery Macra, County Cork, was crowned Queen of the Castle 2025, with Abbie Clarke from County Cavan awarded second place in the festival. Third place was awarded to Aoife Oxley from County Laois and North Tipperary’s Shona Cullen was crowned Queen’s Choice.

“When I got queen’s choice, I was shocked, I froze on the spot!” admitted the North Tipperary representative.

“There was 21 Queens, 19 from different counties in Ireland. We also had one queen from New Zealand and one queen from Canada. They were on the Macra exchange programme,” explained Shona.

The Queen of the Castle festival took place over three days, with the Queen’s enjoying a trad session and a county colours disco on the first night; yoga, music and line dancing, along with each of the contestants’ live Queen interviews on the second night, and on the final night, each of the county queens enjoyed pilates, karaoke, music and the festival hosted its coronation banquet to crown its new Queens. The festival ran from August 1 to August 3.

Whilst the Queen’s were having fun and getting to know each other throughout the festival, they were also being judged to see who would take home the title of Queen of the Castle.

“The judges were observing us the entire weekend. We were told there were secret judges as well, and then on the Saturday morning we had private one-on-one interviews for five minutes with the three judges and then we had the on-stage interview with an MC and a room full of people which was very daunting.

“It was really out of my comfort zone,” admitted Shona.

lifetime friends made

One of the main perks of the festival is that each of the contestants gets to meet new people and make new friends with woman from all over the country, while also enjoying various activities throughout the festival. According to our North Tipperary Queen, this experience was a once in a lifetime experience.

“The weekend was amazing; I would do it again if I could, genuinely such an amazing group of girls.”

“It was a great opportunity to meet new people; it was a once in a lifetime experience. If I could tell someone to put themselves forward for it next year I would,” expressed Shona.

Supporters were delighted

Shona was joined at the festival by her mother and aunt, her friends and members of North Tipperary Macra ne Feirme who were all elated for her success in the festival.

“My phone is still hopping from everyone congratulating me,” chuckled Shona, commenting on how people have reacted to her being crowned Queen’s Choice.

“We are all very proud of Shona in Borrisoleigh Macra, its as good as we have ever done in a personality competition in a long time, Shona’s always been very good in the club, a very active member.

“The success is great; it’s great for Shona going forward, its great for the club and its great for the county,” commented William Clancy, member of Borrisoleigh Macra, who was one of Shona’s supporters during the festival.

Macra na Feirme

Macra na Feirme is a rural based youth club for people aged between 17 to 35 years old. It hosts various sporting, social and agricultural activities throughout the year giving people the opportunity to try something new whilst also socialising with other young people from rural Ireland.

“There is always something to go and do Macra related. It’s a great way to get out of the house and meet new friends and to try things you wouldn’t have ever tried before like queen of the castle, or even just normal farm walks or sporting events, public speaking, like we do so much,” explained Shona.