March 5 starts accepting applications for Dmitry Zimin’s awards: the Enlightener (Prosvetitel Prize in Russian) and the Enlightener.Translation. Up to May 15 the award welcomes applications from contestants: books published in the Russian language, both written in and translated into Russian. A separate jury will be considering applications for the special award, PolitProsvet.

Books can take part in the competition regardless of where they were published or where the author is based. The jury is expecting applications from Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Israel, Germany, and other countries where books get published in the Russian language. Books that have been published in digital format only are welcome to apply as well.

In order to apply, fill out the form on the award’s website before May 15. The organizing committee accepts only formatted text in PDF. Applicants who get selected for the long list will later need to mail hard copies to the award’s mailing address.  

Since its launch in 2016, the Enlightener Prize, supported by the Zimin Foundation, awards annually to the best non-fiction books in the Russian language. The jury board of the Enlightener.Translation rewards the best nonfiction books translated into Russian, while the jury of the special PolitProsvet award selects the best book dedicated to the current social and political process.

The long lists of the awards will be published before June 30; the finalists will be announced before September 30.

Find out requirements to award-seekers in the new season, as well as who can file an application on behalf of a book, at the Enlightener’s website.