The 2021 Kate Challis RAKA Award is now open for applications from Indigenous fiction authors.
RAKA, which means ‘five’ in the Pintupi language, is awarded to an Indigenous artist in one of five categories annually, including creative prose, poetry, script writing, drama and visual arts. In 2021, the $20,000 award celebrates the best book of fiction by an Indigenous author published in the preceding five years between 2016 and 2021.
The RAKA, or Ruth Adeney Koori Award, was first awarded in 1991 to help advance recognition of Indigenous artistic achievements, was one of the earliest prizes for Indigenous artists in Australia. It is administered within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.
The award was established by eminent art and cultural historian Professor Emeritus Bernard Smith. Smith believed in the restorative justice powers of the arts in all forms, which is why the Kate Challis RAKA Award celebrates Indigenous creative excellence. It is named to honour the memory of his late wife, Kate Challis, who was known in her youth as Ruth Adeney. Past winners of the RAKA include filmmaker Ivan Sen (2014 and 2004), visual artist Yhonnie Scarce (2018), author Alexis Wright (2016) and poet Lionel Fogarty (2015). See the full list of past winners.
Applications close on 14 June 2021.
Image: Thunder Raining Poison, Yhonnie Scarce, 2015 (detail). Photo: Janelle Low.