- Patricia Edgar
Patricia May Edgar AM (born 11 March 1937) is an
Australia n author, television producer and educator, best known as the founding director of theAustralian Children's Television Foundation .She was born in 1937 in
Mildura, Victoria , and moved toCalifornia in the 1960s with her husband (author and social researcherDon Edgar ) and two children to study atStanford University . On their return to Australia, Edgar joined the staff ofLa Trobe University , where she also completed aPhD .Keys, Wendy: [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20615578-25132,00.html Not in front of the kids] , "The Australian ",November 1 ,2006 .]In 1975,
Gough Whitlam 's government appointed Edgar toAustralian Broadcasting Control Board where she was instrumental in formulating codes forchildren's television for the first time. She took part in the establishment of theAustralian Broadcasting Tribunal 's Program Standards for children's television, and was founding director of theAustralian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF). Over twenty-years, the ACTF won multiple awards including an Emmy, and made co-productions with the BBC, Disney and Revcom. [ [http://www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/catalogue/0-522-85281-5.html Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television] , Melbourne University Publishing.]Her books about television and the media include "Children and Screen Violence", "Under Five in Australia", "Media She" (with Hilary McPhee), "The Politics of the Press" and most recently her memoir "Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television". She was awarded the
Australian Film Institute Longford Life Achievement Award in 2002, and theDromkeen Medal in 2007, for her role in advancing children's literature. [ [http://www.scholastic.com.au/common/dromkeen/pdf/medal_recipient_07.pdf Dromkeen Medal Citation 2007] ,Scholastic Corporation , 2007.]Edgar lives in Melbourne with her husband, near her two daughters and four grandchildren. She is chair of the World Summit on Media for Children Foundation. A
breast cancer victim, she also chairs theBreast Cancer Network of Australia .References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
