Congratulations to Carla de Jong, who has been appointed as ABC's Commissioning and Development Editor, Children's TV.

Carla completed her Bachelor of Music Theatre in 1998 from the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music at Mackay, and said her time at the CQCM has helped her to achieve what she has so far achieved in her career.

Conservatrorium graduate Carla de Jong returns for a top Children's TV role

Carla joins the ABC having spent the last 2 years at BBC Children's TV, developing new programs and securing commissions for both the CBBC and CBeebies channels.

She has also played a key role in securing international co-production and co-development opportunities for the BBC Children's News Factual and Learning Department.

Before moving to England, Carla produced a range of award-winning programs for Network Ten, including Totally Wild and the children's science series SCOPE.

Her work has been recognised both locally and internationally in awards such as the Logies, The Prix Jeunesse Awards, The United Nations World Environment Day Awards and the BANFF World Television Awards.

Carla, whose original home-town is Townsville, says her passion for children's entertainment sprung from her previous career as a Fairy at children's birthday parties.

She has also studied musical theatre at NIDA. Her career in television began in 2002 when she completed a ‘Writing for Children's Television' course at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and then went on to be named as one of the "emerging producers" at the 2002 Screen Producers of Australia's conference. It was here that she met the Head of Children's Television at Network Ten and landed her first job in the elusive television industry.