Husband in holiday area: winner! (5)
I believe the answer is:
champ
'winner' is the definition.
(I know that champ is a type of winner)
'husband in holiday area' is the wordplay.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'holiday area' becomes 'camp' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'h' going inside 'camp' is 'CHAMP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for champ that I've seen before include "Chew noisily" , "use teeth?" , "Munch loudly - the winner!" , "Mashed potato with scallions" , "The first person" .)