Young Voltaire Award - Ngaga-Dji project
Voltaire Award Winner 2019
Young Voltaire Award Winner
Liberty Victoria honours the Ngaga-Dji project ( Hear me!), a collaborative project of the Koorie Youth Council led by Anna Cerreto and Indi Clarke, with the Young Voltaire Award.
The Young Voltaire Award honours a person or group no older than 30 at the date of their nomination for an outstanding contribution to or action on free speech, human rights or civil liberties, with particular emphasis on progressing freedom, respect, equality and dignity. It celebrates those who speak out, write, campaign, whistle-blow, take action or stand against authoritarianism.
This award will be presented for the third time in 2019. Previous winners were Georgie Stone and Yasmin Abdel-Magied.
Ngaga-dji captures the voices and experiences of Aboriginal children in Victoria’s youth justice system. It tells the stories of these children for the first time, giving Victoria the chance to understand how policy choices affect the lives and the future of Indigenous communities.
The name ‘Ngaga-dji’ translates to ‘hear me’. Drawn from Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people, this project is based in cultural values of listening, collaboration and care.
The project has drawn upon the values of the traditional owners of the land to create an approach that identifies and deals with the underlying issues that Aboriginal children face in a culturally safe manner. The project is a successful model of practical actions to heal and support communities and brings hope to a long neglected area of criminal justice.
Liberty Victoria applauds Ngaga-dji for truly supporting self-determination and being a vital document in the fight to end the over-incarceration of Aboriginal people due to ongoing systemic injustice.
The Liberty Victoria Young Voltaire Award will be presented at a dinner in Melbourne on Saturday, 27 July 2019. Early Bird Discounted Prices End Friday 17 May, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Find out more about Ngaga-dji here