About SAAME

SAAME originally began as the S.A. Association for Screen Education during the 1970's and in 1979 hosted the first National Screen Education Conference in Australia.  In 1982 SAAME again held a national conference but this time for media education.  Some of the resolutions to come out of this included the undertaking of the other states to host this biennial event and the establishment of The Council of Australasian Media Education Organisations.

At the Annual General Meeting early in 1983, a new constitution was adopted along with the name “South Australian Association for Media Education,” and the organisation became incorporated.  Teresa Shearer (now Forest) was the inaugural President.  During the early '80's SAAME was very involved in running student film making camps and supporting the Young Film Makers Festival.

When community radio station 5PBA-FM began test transmissions, SAAME members produced the forerunner to Media Moves and SAAME received a Di Pole Award in acknowledgement of over 20 years of broadcasting.

Media Moves is now streamed live and can be heard every second Wednesday of the month at 8:30pm (CST).

In 1984 a community service announcement, “Take Time to Talk” was made and subsequently aired by Adelaide's commercial TV stations until the '90's.  This was followed in 1987 with “What are Your Kids Watching?”

For three years in the late 1980's SAAME conducted the S.A.Y. Media Awards.  This involved about 1000 students across the state selecting, monitoring and voting for the media products and personalities they thought were the ‘best’.  The culmination of this process was an Awards night at which the students announced the winners (a la Oscars) and presented them with their award.  In 1994 SAAME again hosted the National Media Education Conference.  Mediascape '94's success highlighted the leading role South Australia and SAAME play in Media Education.

2005 saw SAAME involved with Documentary film maker Peter Wintonick from the Thinkers in Residence Program.  This lead to a Premier's Department inquiry in to the status of Year 12 Media Studies and a change in its status for university entrance.  Peter Wintonick’s residency looked to build a new screen culture in South Australia.

In 2007 with industry and education groups, we helped establish the SA Screen Industry Council.

With Digital Dialogues in 2008, SAAME successfully brought together all of South Australia's key stakeholders; the three universities, TAFE, DECS and non-government schools, to convene this boutique event.

SAAME also represents media education on various curriculum groups and was a contributor to the ACARA Arts Shape Paper.

SAAME is a member of the Council of Educational Associations of South Australia (CEASA), Council of Australasian Media Education Organisations (CAMEO) and the Technology Education Federation of Australia Ltd (TEFA).