Rosemary McLeod

Best-known as an outspoken columnist, cartoonist and journalist, Rosemary McLeod was the devisor and principal writer of iconic TV soap Gloss, which won the best New Zealand drama award in 1989.

Wellington-based, McLeod rose to prominence in the 1970s, when she was responsible for some of the most popular satirical cartoons of the period. She was a regular contributor to The Listener magazine, and wrote for The Dominion and Sunday Times.

In the mid 1970s, McLeod became a news reporter for One Network News, which led to a short stint as a writer on Close to Home and contract comedy work for ABC Television Entertainment Department in Sydney, Australia.

She then went on to write scripts for TVNZ, including the sitcom All Things Being Equal. In the early 1980s, she was a freelance scriptwriter, and wrote for Country GP and The Seekers.

McLeod's most notable role in the screen industry was as devisor, story-liner and main writer for Gloss (1987 - 1990), the iconic soap known for its distinctive style and wit. Described as "New Zealand's own Dynasty," Gloss centred on the Redfern family and their publishing empire (a world McLeod had worked in and knew well). It ran for three seasons, sold around the world and won the award for best New Zealand TV Drama in 1989.

After Gloss, McLeod worked briefly in advertising, before returning to journalism. She currently writes a weekly column for the Sunday Star Times, and another column for The Dominion Post that is syndicated nationwide.

McLeod is an avid collector of handcrafts, and has written a book on the subject, Thrift to Fantasy: Home textile crafts of the 1930s-1950s, which won a Montana Book Award in 2006. Her own extensive collection of women's handcrafts was the basis for an exhibition at the Dowse Gallery in 2002.

Other awards McLeod has won include the Pen First Book of Prose (1976), the Jubilee Prize for Investigative Journalism and Qantas Feature Writer of the Year (five times, in 1986 and 1990 - 1993).

She has published a further three books: A Girl Like I (1976), Thank You for Having Me (1979) and The Rosemary McLeod Bedside Book (1981).

Since its inception in 2003, McLeod has been a judge of the MovieFest competition.

From 1995 to 2000, she was a member of the Broadcasting Standards Authority.