The Ruby Awards honour outstanding work of South Australia’s arts and culture sector.
Named after late arts patron, Dame Ruby Litchfield, the annual awards recognise artistic excellence, creative achievement, innovation, community involvement and inspirational leadership.
The 2022 Ruby Awards were announced at an invitation-only event on 25 November 2022.
2022 Ruby Awards
This award is for an outstanding artistic or cultural event or project that has had a significant positive impact on a community in South Australia.A community may be defined by a uniting factor, such as geographic location, cultural background, religious belief, gender or disability, or it could be an online community.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the event/activity, its originality and quality
- How the work/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form/event type/ activity
- How the nominee has contributed to South Australia through arts and culture.
2022 Winner
U City Art Project – An Encounter of Strangers – Uniting Communities and Guildhouse
Shortlisted nominees
- U City Art Project – An Encounter of Strangers – Uniting Communities and Guildhouse
- Verdi Requiem – Adelaide Youth Orchestras
- Deaf Writers Project – Writers SA.
This award is for an outstanding artistic or cultural event or project that has had a significant positive impact on a regional community in South Australia.
A community may be defined by a uniting factor, such as geographic location, cultural background, religious belief, gender or disability, or it could be an online community.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the event/activity, its originality and quality
- How the work/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form/event type/ activity
- How the nominee has contributed to South Australia through arts and culture.
2022 Winner
No Limits: Regional Young Writers – Writers SA
Shortlisted nominees
- Harbingers Care or Catastrophe – Country Arts SA
- No Limits: Regional Young Writers – Writers SA
- Lullabies of the Fleurieu – Connecting the Dots Music
- Deep Dive Regional Reach – The PaperBoats.
This award is for an outstanding arts or cultural work, event or project for young people presented or held in South Australia. Nominees must be able to demonstrate a positive impact on and/or outcomes for young people.
The nominated work can be a performance, show, production, film, visual arts exhibition, publication, project or initiative aimed specifically at people aged 30 years and under.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the event/activity, its originality, quality and impact
- How the work/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form/event type/ activity
- How the nominee has contributed to South Australia through arts and culture.
2022 Winner
Seven Little Wonders – The PaperBoats
Shortlisted nominees
- Music for All Project: The Nest – Connecting the Dots Music
- Seven Little Wonders – The PaperBoats
- Neo – Teen Led Festival for 13-17-year-olds – Art Gallery of South Australia
- I Wish… – Patch Theatre and Gravity & Other Myths
This award is for an outstanding work or event presented or held as part of a festival program in South Australia.
Works and events can include performances, shows, productions, films, artworks, publications and visual arts exhibitions presented as part of a festival.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the event/activity, its originality and quality
- How the work/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form/event type/ activity
- How the nominee has contributed to South Australia through arts and culture.
2022 Winner
Watershed: The Death of Dr. Duncan – Adelaide Festival
Shortlisted nominees
- Neoteric– Ms Ray Harris (Project Lead)
- Watershed: The Death of Dr. Duncan – Adelaide Festival
- Girls and Boys – State Theatre Company South Australia
- Sister Exhibitions – Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This award is for an outstanding work or event presented or held in South Australia, not as part of a festival program.
Works and events can include performances, shows, productions, films, artworks, publications and visual arts exhibitions presented not as part of a festival.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the event/activity, its originality and quality
- How the work/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form/event type/ activity
- How the nominee has contributed to South Australia through arts and culture.
2022 Winner
Bee-Stung Lips: Barbara Hanrahan, works on paper 1960-1991 – Flinders University Museum of Art
Shortlisted nominees
- Hibernation – State Theatre Company South Australia
- Bee-Stung Lips: Barbara Hanrahan, works on paper 1960-1991 – Flinders University Museum of Art
- Glengarry Glen Ross – Flying Penguin Productions.
This award recognises activities that encourage strategic and innovative collaboration between independent artists and groups, funded arts and cultural organisations or with organisations outside the arts and cultural sector.
Nominations will be accepted for creative developments, projects, events, exhibitions, publications or performances that have been developed through a collaborative process that includes the sharing of resources and knowledge.
Both the partners involved, and the outcomes of the collaboration will be considered for the award.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Professional artists and organisations.
Judges consider:
- The artistic merit of the work/project/event/activity, its originality, quality and impact
- How the work/project/event/activity has contributed to the development of its art form
- What the input of the partners/collaborators has been.
- How the input of the collaborator/partners has enhanced the outcome.
2022 Winner
Clock for No Time – Preserving Jars Creative Collective (with simplylateral productions, Mark Oakley, Bianka Kennedy, House of Sand, RUMPUS Theatre, Appifany Pty Ltd, SA Museums - Community Programs, State Theatre of SA, Access2Arts, DeafCan:Do, Royal Society for the Blind, Accessible Arts, Dementia Australia, Replay Creative, Autism Spectrum Australia, Hampstead Specialist Brain Rehab Services, Eliza Lovell, Australian Network of Art and Technology, Watershed)
Shortlisted nominees
- Progress Report – Alison Currie (with Alisdair Macindoe, Sascha Budimski and Meg Wilson)
- Clock for No Time – Preserving Jars Creative Collective (with simplylateral productions, Mark Oakley, Bianka Kennedy, House of Sand, RUMPUS Theatre, Appifany Pty Ltd, SA Museums - Community Programs, State Theatre of SA, Access2Arts, DeafCan:Do, Royal Society for the Blind, Accessible Arts, Dementia Australia, Replay Creative, Autism Spectrum Australia, Hampstead Specialist Brain Rehab Services, Eliza Lovell, Australian Network of Art and Technology, Watershed)
- Macro – Adelaide Festival (with Gravity & Other Myths, Djuki Mala, Edinburgh International Festival, Aurora - Young Adelaide Voices, Ekrem Phoenix, Aidan O'Rourke, Kathleen MacInnes and Brighde Chaimbeul).
This award recognises a small-to-medium organisation or group that has made an outstanding contribution to arts and culture in South Australia.
Nominees must be small-to-medium arts or cultural organisations or groups, receiving no funding or less than $1 million in funding from Arts South Australia.
The award is open to:
- Amateur companies
- Small-to-medium funded and unfunded arts or cultural organisations
- Community organisations
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Volunteer organisations or groups.
Judges consider:
- How the nominee has demonstrated artistic merit, originality, quality, impact or leadership in their field
- How the nominee has achieved peer recognition in their field.
2022 Winner
Guildhouse
Shortlisted nominees
- Adelaide Central School of Art
- Guildhouse
- Nexus Arts.
Named in honour of South Australian theatre director Geoff Crowhurst, this award recognises the contribution of an individual or organisation to community arts and cultural development.
Nominees must be able to demonstrate credibility through involvement in arts and cultural projects that build stronger, more cohesive communities. This may be evidenced by creative collaborations between the arts and cultural sector and communities, working to achieve artistic and social outcomes.
A community is determined by a uniting factor, such as geographic location, cultural background, religious belief, gender or disability, or it could be an online community.
The award is open to:
- Arts and culture sector workers
- Community workers
- Local and State Government workers
- Not-for-profit sector workers
- Private enterprise workers
- Professional artists
- Volunteers.
Judges consider:
- How the nominee has demonstrated artistic merit, originality, quality, impact or leadership in their field
- How the nominee has achieved peer recognition in their field.
2022 Winner
Lisa Lanzi
This award recognises outstanding artistic or cultural achievement or contribution by an individual young South Australian. Nominees must be aged 30 years or under as of 30 July 2022.
The award is open to:
- Arts and cultural sector workers
- Community workers
- Individual artists (professional and emerging)
- Local and State Government workers
- Not-for-profit sector workers
- Private enterprise workers
- Volunteers.
Judges consider:
- How the nominee has demonstrated artistic merit, originality, quality, impact or leadership in their field
- How the nominee has achieved peer recognition in their field.
2022 Winner
Jamie Hornsby
This award recognises outstanding artistic or cultural achievement or contribution by a South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-focused organisation or group, or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identified individual.
The award is open to:
- Arts and cultural sector
- Community organisations
- Individual artists (professional and emerging)
- Local and State Government
- Not-for-profit sector
- Private enterprise
- Volunteer sector.
Judges consider:
- How the nominee has demonstrated artistic merit, originality, quality, impact or leadership in their field
- How the nominee has achieved peer recognition in their field.
2022 Winner
Dre Ngatokorua
This award recognises an extraordinary South Australian who, through a lifetime of outstanding service, has made an indelible contribution to arts and culture.
Nominees must be able to demonstrate credibility through a lifetime’s body of work, creative originality, professionalism or leadership.
The award is open to:
- Arts and cultural sector workers
- Community workers
- Local and State Government workers
- Not-for-profit sector workers
- Private enterprise workers
- Professional artists
- Volunteers.
Judges consider:
- How the nominee has demonstrated artistic merit, originality, quality, impact or leadership in their field
- How the nominee has achieved peer recognition in their field.
2022 Winner
Hossein Valamanesh
Robert Jesser