From time to time the Festival will award a National Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.  An Award may be awarded each year but does not have to be.

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The primary criteria for the Award is that a person (or group of persons) has made, throughout their lifetime, a significant commitment and contribution to enriching folk music and culture in Australia. 

 

A recipient of the Award may be a performing artist within the folk genre or a person who has significantly contributed to folk culture in Australia in other ways over many years, such as through collecting and/or recording folk culture, organising folk festivals or running a folk club.