Big Book (award)


Big Book  is a Russian literary award for best prose in Russian.
The award is financed by the founders of the Center for the Support of Domestic Literature, Russian major businessmen and business structures.
Acceptable candidates for the award are works of all prose genres, including memoirs, biographies and other documentary prose, written in or translated to Russian.
The cash reward is as follows:
The founder of the Big Book National Literary Award is the Center for the Support of Domestic Literature, founded by:
The chairman of the board of the center is Vladimir Grigorev, and the general director of the award and director of the center is Georgy Urushadze.
The co-founders of the award are:
The board of trustees is the highest organ of the award. It approves and amends the regulations of the award, among other tasks.
The board of trustees is composed by:

Formation of the list of nominees ("long list")

In the competition for the award, both published works and manuscripts can participate. Publishers, members of the Literary Academy, the media, creative unions, as well as state authorities can nominate a work or manuscript for the competition. The published work can also be put forward by the author. The work must be published either in the previous year or before February 28 of the current year, when acceptance of works for the award ends.
The Council of Experts selects nominees from the received applications for the "long list". Each submitted work is evaluated by at least two experts and is then recommended or rejected. 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.

Formation of the list of finalists ("short list")

The list of finalists includes from 8 to 15 works of the "long list". A collective decision is made on each work, and the majority of the experts of the board should speak for inclusion. By May 31, the list must be announced by the chairman of the Council of Experts and published on the Award's website.

The work of the Literary Academy (the jury)

The Literary Academy consists of more than 100 people — professional writers and publishers, cultural and art workers, academics, public and state leaders, journalists and entrepreneurs.
Members of the Literary Academy get acquainted with the works from the "list of finalists" and vote on them. According to the number of points awarded, the laureates of the first, second and third awards are determined. 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.

Selection of the Readers' Sympathy Prize

After the announcement of the "list of finalists", a readers' vote is opened. The first three works that receive the most points from readers are awarded with commemorative statuettes. Since 2008, it is possible to read the applicants' works.

Council and jury chairmen

Council of Experts

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.

Literary Academy

The chairmen of the Literary Academy have been:
The award was first announced on November 14, 2005.

2005—2006

The "long list" of 71 works was announced on April 26, 2006.
The short list of 15 works was announced on May 30, 2006, at a special "Literary Dinner" at GUM.
The second season of the award was announced on November 28, 2006.
The "long list" contained 45 works, of which 12 became finalists.
The third season of the award was announced on November 27, 2007. The reception of works ended on February 29, 2008.
The "long list" contained 45 works, of which 10 became finalists.
The reception of works ended on February 28, 2009.
The "long list" contained 48 works, of which 13 became finalists.
The reception of works ended on February 28, 2010.
With 379 works nominated, the "long list", announced on April 15, 2010, contained 37 authors of published works and 12 authors of manuscripts.
The list of finalists was announced on May 19, 2010, at the traditional Literary Dinner, and included 14 books and manuscripts.
The reception of works ended on February 28, 2011.
375 manuscripts and books from 42 regions of Russia and 14 countries of near and far abroad were nominated for the award, 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.
The list of finalists was announced on May 25, 2011, at the traditional "Literary Dinner" at GUM, and included ten novels.
The reception of works ended on February 29, 2012.
401 works were nominated, 85 of which were manuscripts.
The list of finalists was announced on May 30, 2012, and contained 14 works.
The readers' vote was held between July and November 2012.
321 works from writers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the United States, Spain, France, Estonia, Israel, Latvia and Germany were submitted for the award. On April 24, 2013, the "long list" was announced in the memorial museum-apartment of A. Tolstoy, which included 36 works.
More than 359 works from Russia and other countries were submitted for the award. The "long list" of applicants included 29 works.
More than 338 works from Russia and other countries were submitted for the award. In the "long list" of the applicants included 30 works.