Amanda Cox - founder of the Real Mum of the Year Award - is a Real Mum to three boys, wife to a chef (yeah, it's great - NOT!) and owner of fluff free parenting website realmums.com.au, aimed at providing support, information and resources to all Australian mums in a fun, satirical and inclusive way, via articles, business directory and the site's Retell Therapy Forums, and Bad Mother's Club, providing multiple opportunities for Mums' to have some much needed time out, wine, chocolate, and even more information and support.

She is a novice writer (you can read her works at Diary of a Mad Cow), events coordinator (by default), speaker and advocate for Mother's health.

The idea of the Real Mum of the Year Award came about in 2007 when out shopping with a tired toddler and pre-schooler - both of whom decided a meltdown in a public place was the way to deal with a non-compliant mother.

Not to be outdone, Amanda (also known as Mad Cow) clenched her fists, stamped her foot and asked of anyone who'd listen ...

"Where is my medal?"
 (in a voice loud enough to drown out the tantrums of her offspring).

She not only learnt that Mums throwing public tantrums is not soclailly acceptable behaviour, but, back on the Retell Therapy Forums, she found lots of other Mums asking that very same question.

Not prepared to hold her breath (tantrum style) waiting for someone to acknowledge what she does as a Mum, she just created an Award herself.

After all, it's not bloody likely that anyone else around here will get off their bottoms and do anything, is it? And nobody ever notices anything that we do around the house, anyway, and they'd probably only notice how much we do around here if we dropped dead on the TV remote and they couldn't find it, and no one was served any dinner for a week.  And who's is this toast down beside the fridge? How long has it been there, and guess what you're having for breakfast this morning? No, I don't have time to make you anything else!!!

The Award is presented at the annual Mums' Night Out!