The South Australian Ruby Awards, also known as the Ruby Awards, are annual awards which recognise outstanding achievement in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

’s arts and culture sector. They were named in honour of arts champion Dame

Ruby Litchfield Dame Ruby Beatrice Litchfield Order of the British Empire (DBE), DBE ( Skinner; 5 September 1912 – 14 August 2001) was an Australian theatre director, board member and community worker. Early life and education Litchfield was born Ruby Be ...

(1912–2001) .

History and description

The Ruby Awards were introduced in 2006 by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

, named in honour of the late arts patron Dame Ruby Litchfield. She was the first woman appointed to the Board of the

Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first capital city multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the early 1970s and designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 wit ...

, a founder member of Festival City Broadcasters, and a board member of numerous other organisations, including the

Adelaide Festival of Arts The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, the

South Australian Housing Trust The South Australian Housing Trust (SAHT) is an independent statutory authority originally established by the Government of South Australia responsible for providing low-cost rental housing to working people and their families, as a means of su ...

and the Carclew Youth Performing Arts Centre. The Awards were managed by

Arts South Australia Arts South Australia (previously Arts SA) was responsible for managing the South Australian Government's funding for the arts and cultural heritage from about 1996 until late 2018, when it was progressively dismantled, a process complete by early ...

(formerly Arts SA) until 2018, when they were transferred to the Arts and Culture unit within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Since the year of inception, they have grown in number from eight to twelve.

Winners

2006–2009

2010–2013

The Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award was introduced in honour of actor and director

Geoff Crowhurst The Junction Theatre Company was South Australia's first professional community theatre company, founded in 1984. It was located in the Adelaide suburb of Thebarton, until its closure in 2002. Its touring productions were performed in schools, fa ...

(23 March 1951 – 4 July 2009).

2014–2017

2018–present

The 2018 South Australian Ruby Award significantly reshaped the award categories, including individual categories names in honour of the late

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

elder Stephen Goldsmith (the Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artistic and cultural achievement) and local arts icon Frank Ford (the Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award), both of whom who died in the same year.

References

External links

*{{cite web, website=South Australia. Dept of the Premier and Cabinet, url=https://dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/arts-and-culture/awards-and-events, title=Awards and events Australian visual arts awards Australian theatre awards