The award is financed by the founders of the Center for the Support of Domestic Literature, Russian major businessmen and business structures.
Publishers, members of the Literary Academy (the jury of the award), the media, creative unions, as well as state authorities (from federal and regional level) can nominate a work or manuscript for the competition.
The Council of Experts selects nominees from the received applications for the "long list" (no restrictions on the number of works).
The general list is finally compiled before April 30 and announced by the chairman of the Council of Experts and published on the Award's website.
The Literary Academy (award jury) consists of more than 100 people[7] — professional writers and publishers, cultural and art workers, academics, public and state leaders, journalists and entrepreneurs.
Members of the jury may convene an in-person meeting of the Literary Academy, if it is necessary to decide on whether or not to award one or several prizes (including additional ones).
[8] Since the creation of the award, the chairman of the Council of Experts has been the First Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Novy Mir, Mikhail Butov.
375 manuscripts and books from 42 regions of Russia and 14 countries of near and far abroad were nominated for the award,[24] of which 40 works of 39 authors were included in the "long list" presented on April 20, 2011, in Joseph Brodsky's "Pelmeni" building in Moscow's Krasin Street.
[25] The list of finalists was announced on May 25, 2011, at the traditional "Literary Dinner" at GUM, and included ten novels.
321 works from writers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the United States, Spain, France, Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Germany were submitted for the award.