They were named in honour of arts champion Dame Ruby Litchfield (1912–2001) DBE.
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.
(2006 Award program included one single award for Community Impact regardless of budget) The Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award was introduced in honour of actor and director Geoff Crowhurst (23 March 1951 – 4 July 2009).
Adelaide Film Festival/Adelaide Festival of Ideas 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.