[2] Six awards are presented annually to books published in the U.S. during the preceding calendar year, in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir/Autobiography, Biography, and Criticism.

Beginning in 2014, the NBCC also presents a special "first book" award across all six categories, named the John Leonard Award in honor of literary critic and NBCC founding member John Leonard, who died in 2008.

[3] Books previously published in English are not eligible, such as re-issues and paperback editions.

They do consider "translations, short story and essay collections, self published books, and any titles that fall under the general categories".

[4] The judges are the volunteer directors of the NBCC who are 24 members serving rotating three-year terms, with eight elected annually by the voting members,[5] namely "professional book review editors and book reviewers".