South Australian Ruby Awards

The South Australian Ruby Awards, also known as the Ruby Awards, are annual awards which recognise outstanding achievement in South Australia’s arts and culture sector. They were named in honour of arts champion Dame Ruby Litchfield (1912–2001) DBE.

History and description

The Ruby Awards were introduced in 2006 by the Government of South Australia,^[1] named in honour of the late arts patron Dame Ruby Litchfield.^[2][3] She was the first woman appointed to the Board of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, a founder member of Festival City Broadcasters, and a board member of numerous other organisations, including the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the South Australian Housing Trust and the Carclew Youth Performing Arts Centre.^[4]

The Awards were managed by Arts South Australia (formerly Arts SA) until 2018, when they were transferred to the Arts and Culture unit within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.^[5]

Since the year of inception, they have grown in number from eight to twelve.

Winners

2006–2009

Winners

	2006	2007	2008	2009
Best Work or Event	Honk If You Are Jesus, State Theatre Company South Australia	Ikara – The Meeting Place, Tony Rosella, sculptor	When the Rain Stops Falling, Brink Productions	2008 OzAsia Festival
Community Impact (Under $100,000)	SALA Festival (2006 Award program included one single award for Community Impact regardless of budget)	South Australian History Week	OzAsia Moon Lantern Festival	Seniors on Screen, Media Resource Centre
Community Impact (Over $100,000)		Bundaleer Forest Weekend	2007 Feast Festival	Port Augusta Re-Imagines
Innovation	Devolution, Australian Dance Theatre	Electro Acoustic Project, Zephyr Quartet	Trouble on Planet Earth, The Border Project	3xperimentia: Live Cut
Leadership in Arts Enterprise	Special projects under development, Craig Andrae	Fringe Benefits	Adelaide Festival Centre – Scenery and Engineering Workshops	The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy 2009 World Tour, Slingsby
Sustained Contribution by an Organisation	JamFactory Craft and Design	State Theatre Company South Australia	Adelaide Repertory Theatre	Patch Theatre Company
Sustained Contribution by an Individual	N/A	Leigh Warren	Timothy Sexton	Jane Hylton
Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement	Frank Ford AM	Anthony Steel AM	Kym Bonython AO DFC AFC	Fiona Hall

2010–2013

The Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award was introduced in honour of actor and director Geoff Crowhurst (23 March 1951 – 4 July 2009).

Winners 2010 – 2013
	2010	2011	2012	2013
Best Event	Soundstream: Adelaide New Music Festival 2009	The Adelaide International Cello Festival 2011	Barrio, Adelaide Festival	Turner from the tate: The Making of a Master, Art Gallery of South Australia
Best Work	Man Covets Bird, Slingsby	Life in Movement, Closer Productions	School Dance, Windmill Theatre	Pinocchio, Windmill Theatre and State Theatre Company South Australia
Community Impact (Under $100,000)	Out of the Glass Case: The APY Lands Road Show	Out Blak Adventures	About Time: South Australia's History Festival, History SA	Auburn Courthouse Cultural Centre, HATS Inc (Heritage, Arts and Traditions)
Community Impact (Over $100,000)	Windmill Theatre and Mimili Anangu Partnership	COME OUT Festival 2011 Opening Parade	The Spirit Festival, Tandanya	Just Add Water: 2012 Regional Centre of Culture, Country Arts SA and Alexandrina Council
Innovation	The Mystery of Flying Kicks, Closer Productions	CACSA Contemporary 2010: The New New	I Am Not an Animal, The Border Project	If There Was a Colour Darker Than Black I'd Wear It, by Caleb Lewis, with Rising Damp, Illuminart and Country Arts SA[6][7][8]
Arts Enterprise	Format Festival 2010	Gray Street Workshop	Tuxedo Cat Theatre, Cassandra Tombs and Bryan Lynagh	Illuminart Productions Pty Ltd
Sustained Contribution by an Organisation	Restless Dance Theatre	Adelaide Chamber Singers	Carclew Youth Arts	Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Sustained Contribution by an Individual	Mary Moore	Stephen Phillips	Garry Stewart	Geoff Cobham
Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award	Margie Fischer	Pat Rix	Cath Cantlon	Ollie Black
Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement	Marjorie Fitz-Gerald OAM	Michael Morley	Robyn Archer	Milton Moon

2014–2017

Winners 2014 – 2017
	2014	2015	2016[9]	2017[10]
Best Event	Dark Heart: 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia Adelaide Film Festival/Adelaide Festival of Ideas	SALA Festival 2014	Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia	2017 Adelaide Festival
Best Work	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial, Memorial artists Lee-Ann Buckskin, Tony Rosella and Michelle Nikou, sculptor Robert Hannaford and bronze caster Tim Thomson	The Philip Glass Trilogy, State Opera of South Australia	Girl Asleep, A Windmill Theatre Co and Soft Tread Enterprises’ film	Saul – Adelaide Festival
Community Impact (Under $100,000)	Sons & Mothers, No String Attached Theatre of Disability, written and directed by Alirio Zavarce	Barngarla Stories of Resilience, Nexus Arts	Desert Fringe, Adelaide Fringe	Creating Coonalpyn – Coorong District Council
Community Impact (Over $100,000)	Pom Pom: Children's Contemporary Art Space, Carclew and Playford Communities for Children Plus	Adelaide Writers' Week, Adelaide Festival	Gorgon: State Educational Regional Tour 2016, State Theatre Company South Australia	SALA Festival 2016
Innovation	ADHOCRACY, Vitalstatistix	Music for Strings and iThings, Zephyr Quartet	Girl Asleep, A Windmill Theatre Co and Soft Tread Enterprises’ film.	Intimate Space – Restless Dance Theatre
Arts Enterprise	Bowerbird – Adelaide's Design Market	Fifth Quarter, Carclew's business incubator	Adelaide Symphony Orchestra	N/A
Sustained Contribution by an Organisation	Helpmann Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts	Australian Dance Theatre	Adelaide Symphony Orchestra	Tutti Arts
Sustained Contribution by an Individual	Shane McNeil	Grant Hancock	Sally Chance	Margie Fischer
Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award	Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko	Edwin Kemp Attrill	Lee-Ann Buckskin	Alysha Herrmann
Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement	Robert Hannaford	Yvonne Koolmatrie	Rob Brookman and Ulrike Klein ( Jointly awarded )	Ian Scobie AM
People's Choice Award	N/A	N/A	A Kid Like Me – True North Youth Theatre Ensemble	2017 UneARTh Festival Whyalla – City of Whyalla and Adelaide Fringe

2018–present

The 2018 South Australian Ruby Award significantly reshaped the award categories, including individual categories names in honour of the late Kaurna 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.^[11][12]

	2018 Finalists (Winners in bold)[13][14][15]	2019 Finalists (Winners in bold[16])[17]	2021 Finalists[18] (Winners in bold[19][20])	2023 Winners[21]
	The Awards were held at the Queen's Theatre, Adelaide and the judging panel included eight key industry figures, including Heather Croall, Gavin Wanganeen and media personality Jane Doyle.[15]	The 2019 Ruby Awards will be held at Queens Theatre on Friday 29 November. All winners receive a bespoke, ruby-coloured glasswork designed and made at the JamFactory, and a new prize for Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement was established: a gold nameplate on a seat in the Festival Theatre. The People's Choice Award established in 2017 was not offered.
Outstanding Community Event or Project	-	-	-	Wild Dog, Jacob Boehme
Best Festival	Adelaide Festival 2018 Adelaide Fringe 2018 SALA Festival 2017 WOMADelaide 2018	Adelaide Festival 2019 AltFest 2019 SALA Festival 2018 OzAsia Festival 2018	Adelaide Film Festival	-
Best Work or Event Within a Festival	Hamlet – Adelaide Festival and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Adelaide Festival 2018) In the Club – State Theatre Company South Australia (Adelaide Festival 2018) Waqt al-tagheer: Time of Change – ACE Open (Adelaide Festival 2018) Place des Anges – WOMADelaide and Gratte Ciel (Adelaide Festival 2018)	Counting and Cracking – Adelaide Festival Hotel Mumbai (Adelaide Film Festival 2018) – Producer Julie Ryan and Director/Co-writer Anthony Maras (South Australian key creatives) John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new – Art Gallery of South Australia The Beginning of Nature – Australian Dance Theatre Yabarra - Gathering of Light – Adelaide Fringe	Guttered, Restless Dance Theatre The Pulse, Gravity & Other Myths Clarice Beckett: The Present Moment, Art Gallery of South Australia The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, Slingsby Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia in association with Adelaide Festival and Draiocht	Talk to Me, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, Adelaide Film Festival 2022
Best Work or Event Outside a Festival	Beep – Windmill Theatre Co Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay – Art Gallery of South Australia Impersonal Space – Company AT and Tutti Arts On the Terrace – Chamber Music Adelaide	Absence Embodied by Chiharu Shiota – Art Gallery of South Australia Amphibian – Windmill Theatre Co The Gods of Strangers – State Theatre Company The Young King National Tour – Slingsby Theatre Company	Decameron 2.0, State Theatre Company South Australia and ActNow Theatre Euphoria, Country Arts SA and State Theatre Company South Australia Seeing Through Darkness, Restless Dance Theatre	Beep and Mort – Series One, Windmill Pictures
Best Work, Event or Project for Young People	AREA 53 – D'Faces of Youth Arts Inc. Beep – Windmill Theatre Co Neo – Art Gallery of South Australia Ngarrindjeri Yanun (Aboriginal Artist Development Initiative) – Carclew Youth Arts	Baba Yaga – Windmill Theatre Company DreamBig Festival 2019 – Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Drop Out – Directed and Devised by Alirio Zavarce and True North Youth Theatre Ensemble Neo – Art Gallery of South Australia	Creation Creation, Windmill Theatre Co Neo, Art Gallery of South Australia Zooom, Patch Theatre	the Boy & the Ball, Stephen Noonan
Best Regional or Community Event or Project	AREA 53 – D'Faces of Youth Arts Inc. Collectors/Collections: Waikerie Films – Waikerie District Historical Society and OSCA – Open Space Contemporary Arts Mi:Wi 3027 – Country Arts SA SCC Fringe 2018 – Art Engineers (Julianne Pierce), Ashley Sierp and Southern Cross Care	Bush Classroom Initiative – South Australian Museum Creative Gathering – Ausdance SA In the Pines – James Harding and Gener8 Theatre Company Vietnam - One In, All In – Country Arts SA	'Guiding Light' Vietnamese Boat People Monument, RosellaBadios Collaborative Design The Heart Beat Club, Access2Arts Euphoria, Country Arts SA and State Theatre Company South Australia	Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black), Derik Lynch and Matthew Thorne with Switch Productions
Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation or Group	ActNow Theatre Stormfront Productions True North Youth Theatre Ensemble Vitalstatistix	Brink Productions Nexus Arts Restless Dance Theatre Zephyr Quartet	Slingsby Nexus Arts Gravity & Other Myths Closer Productions	The Mill Adelaide
Made in Adelaide Award (for outstanding artistic or cultural achievement outside of SA by a local show; not to be confused with the Adelaide Fringe Made in Australia Award)	Baba Yaga – Windmill Theatre Co Backbone + A Simple Space – Gravity & Other Myths Intimate Space at Bleach* Festival (Commonwealth Games 2018) – Restless Dance Theatre Things I Know to be True – State Theatre Company South Australia	Memorial Brisbane Festival and the Barbican – Brink Productions Out of Chaos – Gravity and Other Myths Rumpelstiltskin – Windmill Theatre Co and State Theatre Company Slingsby Goes Global 2018 - 19 touring – Slingsby Theatre Company The Spinners Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Showcase – Lina Limosani	-	-
Best Collaboration	-	-	Floods of Fire, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with Brink Productions, Tutti Arts, Nexus Arts, Julian Ferraretto, Adam Page, Hilary Kleinig, Zhao Liang, Jakub Jankowski, Grayson Rotumah, Luke Harrald and Lab Adelaide The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, Slingsby Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia in association with Adelaide Festival and Draiocht Decameron 2.0, State Theatre Company South Australia and ActNow Theatre	Adelaide Film Festival EXPAND Lab 2022, Adelaide Film Festival, Samstag Museum of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Illuminate Adelaide, The Balnaves Foundation.
Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award	Major Moogy Sumner (founder of Tal-Kin-Jeri Dance Group)	Nici Cumpston	Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin	Natasha Wanganeen
Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award	Nicholas Carter (Principal Conductor, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra)	Winner: Tilda Cobham-Hervey Highly Commended: Anton Andreacchio	Grace Coy	Alexander Flood
Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award	Nick O’Connor, Director, Northern Sound System	Winner: Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams Highly Commended: Ann Newmarch	Nick Hughes	Tony Hannan
People's Choice Award	True North Youth Theatre Ensemble	-	-	-
Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement	Alison Milyika Carroll, Indigenous artist and community leader at Ernabella/Pukatja	Paul Blackwell and David Gulpilil	Pat Rix and Garry Stewart (joint winners)	Diana Harris and Nigel Levings

References

1. Lenny, Barry (12 September 2011). "The Ruby Awards 2011". Glam Adelaide. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
2. "Adelaidenow.com.au | Subscribe to The Advertiser for exclusive stories". www.adelaidenow.com.au. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
3. "2015 Ruby Awards celebrate the best of SA art – InDaily". InDaily. 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
4. "Dame Ruby Litchfield, DBE". SA History Hub.
5. "Awards and events". South Australia. Dept of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
6. "If There Was A Colour Darker Than Black I'd Wear It". Caleb Lewis. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
7. "If There Was a Colour Darker Than Black I'd Wear It". Country Arts SA. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
8. "Caleb Lewis". Mollison Keightley Management. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
9. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2019-06-26). "Ruby Awards 2016". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
10. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2019-06-26). "Ruby Awards 2017". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
11. PEDDIE, Clare (3 November 2018). "Introducing the Stevie "Gadlabarti" Goldsmith Memorial Award, new to the Ruby Awards 2018". The Advertiser.
12. "New categories announced for 2018 Ruby Awards as nominations open | Arts South Australia". arts.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
13. Marsh, Walter (3 November 2018). "Meet the finalists for the 2018 Ruby Awards winners". Adelaide Review. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
14. Knight, David (4 December 2018). "2018 Ruby Awards winners". Adelaide Review. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
15. "Ruby Awards 2018". Government of South Australia. Dept Premier & Cabinet. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
16. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2019-12-02). "Ruby Awards". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
17. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2019-11-15). "Ruby Awards". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
18. "The Ruby Awards | Department of the Premier and Cabinet". 2021-11-30. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
19. "2021 Ruby Awards celebrate SA arts sector's resilience". InDaily. 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
20. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2020-12-21). "The Ruby Awards". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
21. Cabinet, Department of the Premier and (2024-06-21). "2023 Ruby Awards". Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Retrieved 2024-08-19.

External links

• "Awards and events". South Australia. Dept of the Premier and Cabinet.