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DR Patricia Edgar, AM
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Dr
Patricia Edgar has been at the forefront in the development
of children’s television in Australia for more than two decades.
She became the Director of the Australian Children’s Television
Foundation (ACTF) when it was incorporated in March 1982 and held
that position until June 2002. For five years previously she was the
Chair of the Children’s Program Committee of the Australian
Broadcasting Tribunal which set standards for children’s television.
As Director of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation
she was the responsible Producer for the ACTF’s $100 million
production slate.
In March 1995 the ACTF hosted the first World Summit on Television
and Children which was conceived by Patricia Edgar. The Summit, held
in Melbourne, was a seminal event involving 637 delegates from 71
countries. This Summit began a worldwide movement under the auspices
of The World Summit on Media for Children Foundation which Patricia
chairs.
Patricia has a BA and a BEd from the University of Melbourne, a Master
of Arts from Stanford University, and a PhD from La Trobe University
where she was appointed in 1970 as the first Chairperson of the Centre
for the Study of Educational Communication and media. Dr Edgar was
awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (Hon DLitt) from the University
of Western Australia in 1994. Much of her research and writing has
focused on children and television. Patricia is the author of seven
books including the biography on Janet Holmes à Court.
Patricia has served on a number of government committees including
the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, the Australian National
Commission of UNESCO, the Council of the Australian Film and Television
School, Film Victoria, the Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission,
and the Victorian Government’s Board of CIRCIT Ltd (Centre for
International Research on Communication and Information Technologies).
During 1988-89 she also served as an Associate Member of the Australian
Broadcasting Tribunal’s Inquiry into Violence on Television
and from 1988-95 she was Deputy Chairman of the Australian Film Finance
Corporation Limited.
Patricia Edgar's contribution to the field of children's television
in Australia is without peer. She was made a Member of the General
Division of the Order of Australia for services to children’s
television and the media in 1986. In 1992 she received the Award of
the Archbishop of Sydney Citation on World Communications Day. In
1995 she was a finalist in the Victorian of the Year Awards and at
the World Summit on Television and Children she was presented with
an award for her outstanding contribution to children. In 1996 Patricia
was selected as a Correspondent Member of the Academia Argentina de
Artes y Ciencias de la Comunicacion. In 1998 she was awarded the Australian
College of Education Medal and in 2001 received an Achiever Award
from the Committee for Melbourne. Both awards were in recognition
of her outstanding contribution to education through the medium of
television.
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