Pat Turner was named NAIDOC Person of the Year at the National NAIDOC Awards in Mparntwe on Saturday night, five months after she retired from the two jobs that put her at the centre of Aboriginal health policy in this country.

Ten awards were presented at the ceremony in Alice Springs, broadcast live from 7.30pm AEST on NITV's digital platforms and SBS On Demand. Turner, an Arrernte and Gurdanji woman, is the 44th recipient of the top award.

She ran the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and led the Coalition of Peaks, the body of community controlled organisations that sits opposite governments as a negotiating party rather than as a consultee. The Closing the Gap agreement now endorsed by every Australian government began as her proposal. "Because of that Agreement, we are beginning to shift the course for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," she said earlier this year. Donnella Mills has held the lead convenor role since Turner stepped down, and will serve until an open election in June 2027.

Malarndirri McCarthy, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, said the recipients "embody the spirit of NAIDOC" and were "leaders, advocates, artists, educators, innovators and community champions".

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Rhoda Roberts AO, presented posthumously. A Widjabul Wia-bal woman from Bundjalung Country, Roberts co-founded the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust, was creative director of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games opening ceremony, and brought the Welcome to Country into national practice. She died in March, aged 66.

Christine Corby AM took Female Elder of the Year. A Gamilaraay woman, she spent close to four decades as founding chief executive of the Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service in north-west New South Wales. Male Elder of the Year went to Dr Stephen Hagan, a Kullilli and Kooma man from south-west Queensland whose career has run through diplomacy, the public service, academia, publishing and film, and who spent years campaigning against racist institutional practices.

Kaylene Whiskey won the Creative Talent Award. An Anangu artist from Indulkana in the APY Lands, she has won both the Sir John Sulman Prize and the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award.

The Sportsperson Award went to Caitlyn Costello, a Larrakia woman with Argun and Arabana ancestry who is a Leading Aircraftwoman in the Royal Australian Air Force and co-captain of the Defence Force women's rugby union team. Tyson Neal-Edwards, a Gunditjmarra, Waddawurrung and Arrernte man, took the Youth Award for work in emergency management and cultural fire practice.

Three of the ten awards went to organisations rather than individuals, and all three are community controlled. Southern Aboriginal Corporation, a Noongar-led body running the Walitj Mia Mia and Nowanup on-Country camps in Western Australia, won Caring for Country and Culture. The Aboriginal and Islander Independent Community School in Brisbane, known as the Murri School, took the Education Award in its fortieth year. The Innovation Award went to the Young Indigenous Women's STEM Academy.

“All of tonight's finalists and winners show the depth of strength, diversity and excellence" across First Nations communities, National NAIDOC Committee co-chair Aunty Lynette Riley said. Co-chair Steven Satour said the finalists and winners represented "the culture, resilience and leadership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples".”

Turner left both roles in March. The agreement she proposed remains the framework every Australian government now reports against.