Introduction to PIXI Awards

The 2004 PIXI Award Winners

"You can always turn off what you don't like, but you cannot turn on what isn't there."
- Peggy Charren, Action for Children's Television founder

Peggy Charren, called by a Seattle reporter "the godmother of TV activism" was on hand for our first PIXI event in 1993. Peggy who received a lifetime achievement award from AME, formerly the Foundation For Family Television stated, "one reason I wanted to come so badly is because I want everyone to know how important this isÖÖÖÖÖ.Everyone is taking this group very seriously." (Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 27, 1993).

Why PIXIs?

Unlike other awards honoring "best producer," "best actress/actor," "best director," etc. the PIXI was created for the special purpose of honoring quality of program content. The PIXI is named for the Pixel, the smallest component of the picture and its magical connection to the child, the smallest element of the audience. The "I" in Pixi is for imagination--the creative link between the two.

Those little spongeheads in our homes and communities are badly in need of that special "I"--the one for imagination! In sparking the imagination, there can be many positive results. The various PIXI award categories have been designed to honor these positive consequences.

A Few Historical Notes

From the very beginning the PIXI has generated considerable interest and support. At the first PIXI award ceremony held in May of 1993, John Vidakovich from Children's Television Workshop had the choice of receiving a PIXI in Seattle or an Emmy in New York. He chose to come to Seattle to personally receive the PIXI because, as he explained, it is a community-generated award. Patrick Scott, President and CEO of KOMO-TV, the Seattle ABC affiliate, noted that these awards demonstrating community support are extremely important to television professionals. While the stations often hear about all the things that people don't like in their programming, they rarely hear anything about that programming the public enjoys

This kind of feedback is invaluable to the stations and provides much needed support for continuing quality family programming.

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