Regulations on the "Far East" Russian literature Award named after V.K. Arseniev

1. General issues

1.1 The All-Russian Literature Award «FAR EAST» named after V.K. Arseniev was established by the "The Social Initiatives Development Fund".

1.1.1 The Founder of the Award organizes the awarding and bears all the expenses associated with the Award fee payments, the production of award sets, their ceremonial presentation and the Award bodies work arrangements.

1.2 The Founder of the Award organizes the awarding and bears all the expenses associated with the Award fee payments, the production of award sets, their ceremonial presentation and the Award bodies work arrangements.

1.3 The Award is awarded annually. The announcement of the next award is made by the founder of the Award through the media. The announcement shall specify the order and conditions for submitting works to the competition, criteria and procedure for evaluating the works, size and form of the award, order and time frame for announcing the winners of the Award.

1.4 Nominations for the Award must be written in Russian on the theme of the Far East. Works of domestic and foreign authors are accepted.

1.5 Novels, stories, collections of stories and/or short stories, as well as documentary prose and memoirs are accepted.

1.6 There are no restrictions for authors in terms of age, citizenship, place of residence and works publication place.

1.7 The Award is granted for works first published during the time specified in paragraph 3.4. of these Regulations.

1.8 The number of nominations, the amount of their monetary portion, the size of the Award fund, and the address for receiving manuscripts are established by the founder of the Award annually and announced before the start of works acceptance. The Award Fund is formed from the funds of the founder, and can be increased by funds provided by the Co-Founders of the Award.

1.9 The Regulations on the Award are published in the media and on the website of the Award.

3. Nominating procedure

3.1 The right to nominate a published work is held by nominators:
a) book publishers;
b) mass media;
c) creative unions of cultural figures;
d) heads of executive and legislative bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
d) Office of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation – Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District;
e) federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation;
g) members of the Award Jury.

3.2 Manuscripts of unpublished works, as well as those nominated by authors, are not to be accepted. Manuscripts of published works (copies, copies of published works, books, magazines, etc.) are not to be corrected or returned.

3.3 Each nominator has the right to nominate no more than five works during the Award season.

3.4 First editions of literary works (books, as well as those published in the media ( including electronic media), literary magazines and almanacs), signed for publication in the period from January 1 to December 31 of the year preceding the year of the Award are accepted.

3.5 Works signed for publication in earlier periods and not nominated for the Award in the previous Award Season may be nominated for the Award in the current Award Season, if they are approved by the Award Expert Council.

3.5.1 In order for the Expert Council of the Award to consider works that were signed for publication in earlier periods and were not nominated for the Award in the previous Award season, the nominator must send a letter on the official letterhead to the Award Secretariat mail info@premiya-arsenieva.ru with a request to review the work.

3.5.2 The author of the work must submit an application through a special form on the Award website.

3.5.3 These works are included in the list of works compiled by the Award Secretariat with the note "For the Expert Council consideration".

3.5.4 Members of the Expert Council of the Award have the right to mark successful works with a note "Include in the Long List if sufficient points are obtained".

3.5.5 The work is included in the Long List if it receives three or more of these notes and scores enough points, the work is included in a Long list.

3.6 A work cannot be nominated for the Award more than once.

3.7 One author is allowed to be presented with any number of works (including those written in collaboration), if the date of their publication meets the conditions specified in paragraph 3.4 of these Regulations. Dilogies, trilogies, etc. are considered as one work, provided that they are complete, have common characters and continuity of plot lines. The date of publication of a dilogy, trilogy, etc. is the date of publication of the final volume.

3.8 If a work written in collaboration becomes a laureate of the Award, the monetary reward due is divided equally between the co-authors.

3.9 In the case of nomination of a collection of novellas and/or short stories consisting of both unpublished and previously published works, the unpublished works must make up minimum a half of the volume of the collection.

3.10 When nominating for the Award, the following materials must be provided:

3.10.1 An electronic application for participation filled on the website премияарсеньева.рф with an attached work in electronic form.

3.10.2 Additional materials:
- a photograph of the author;
- an image of the cover of the book/collection/work (cover layout);
- a brief creative biography of the author (all the co-authors, if the work was written in co-authorship) in the form of a text file of approximately 3,000 printed characters;
- a selected excerpt from the nominated work (approximately 5,000 characters for the Long Prose nomination, approximately 1,000 characters for the Short Prose and Children's Prose nominations);
- the author's written consent to nominate the work.

3.10.3 A book or a magazine edition of the work, or a manuscript (typescript, publication layout, computer printout) in two copies, at the special request of the Secretariat for Long List nominees.

3.11 Each member of the Petit and Grand Juries of the Award has the right to nominate one work. To exercise this right, a member of the Petit or Grand Jury of the Award should submit the text of the work in two copies, a nomination letter in free form and the author's written consent to nominate the work.

3.12 In the absence of a complete set of materials in accordance with paragraph 3.10, the Award Secretariat has the right to remove the work from consideration.

3.13 All the works nominated for the Award are registered with the Award Secretariat and receive registration numbers. Works sent by mail or delivered to the Award address no earlier than the date of the Award announcement and received no later than the deadline for submission of manuscripts specified in paragraph 12.3 will be accepted for consideration.

3.14 The author of the nominated work has the right to withdraw his or her work from consideration by sending a personal statement to the name of the CEO of the founder of the Award up until the date of the announcement of the Long List specified in paragraph 12.4 of these Regulations.

4. Board of Trustees of the Award

4.1 The Board of Trustees is formed by a decision of the founder of the Award.

4.2 The Board of Trustees is the highest working body of the Award.

4.3 The composition of the Board of Trustees is determined by a decision of the founder of the Award and is included in the order of the founder.

4.4 The Board of Trustees works on a voluntary basis. The work of the members of the Board of Trustees is unpaid.

4.5 The Board of Trustees:
- monitors compliance with the Award Regulations;
- approves the Council of Experts, the Chairman and members of the Petit and Grand Juries of the Award;
- approves the candidates for the chairman and members of the Award Secretariat;
- determines the operating procedure of the Award Secretariat, the Council of Experts, the Petit and Grand Juries of the Award;
- approves the form of the scorecard, the sketch (layout) of the commemorative award badge and the form of the diploma;
- determines the winners of the Nomination "For Contribution to the Development of the Far East" and the Nomination "For Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Culture of the Far East" by voting.

4.6 If a work created by a member of the Board of Trustees is nominated for the Award, the member of the Board of Trustees shall suspend the powers of the member of the Board of Trustees until the end of the current Award season by notifying the founder and co-founders of the Award, either withdraw his/her work from the review in accordance with paragraph 3.14 of this Regulation.

5. Secretariat

5.1 The composition of the Award Secretariat to be approved by the Board of Trustees of the Award upon the submission of the founder of the Award.

5.2 Functions of the Secretariat of the Award:
- interaction with authors, the Board of Trustees, the Council of Experts, the Grand Jury and the Petit Jury of the Award;
- acceptance and registration of works;
- scoring;
- examination of works;
- formation of a list of candidates for the Nomination "For Contribution to the Development of the Far East" and the Nomination "For Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Culture of the Far East".

5.3 The Award Secretariat is approved annually no later than 10 (ten) calendar days before the announcement of the Award season.

6. Council of Experts

6.1 The composition of the Council of Experts is approved by the Board of Trustees of the Award upon submission by the Award Secretariat.

6.2 The Council of Experts is formed on the principle of broad public representation. Professional writers, cultural figures, scientists, public and government figures, journalists, and entrepreneurs are invited to the Council of Experts.

6.3 A member of the Council of Experts is not allowed to be a member of the Award Secretariat, the Petit Jury, or the Grand Jury of the Award.

6.4 The list of members of the Council of Experts is published on the official website of the Award.

6.5 Only applications meeting all the selection criteria are to be reviewed by The Council of Experts.

6.6 The members of the Council of Experts are responsible for reading the works of the list compiled by the Award Secretariat and evaluating them according to a ten-point system using a scorecard.

6.7 The scorecards are personalized. Completed scorecard is to be submitted to the Award Secretariat by members of the Council of Experts.

6.8 The members of the Council of Experts vote by submitting completed scorecards.

6.9 The completed and submitted to the Secretariat scorecard is not to be withdrawn or changed.

6.10 If a work created by a member of the Council of Experts is included in the list compiled by the Award Secretariat, this member is obliged to refuse to participate in the vote on all the works or vote for his/her work with a score of zero points.

6.11 The term of office of the members of the Council of Experts is limited to the Award Season. A member of the Council of Experts who has not submitted his or her scorecard (except as provided in para. 6.10) can be removed from the Council of Experts.

6.12 The decision made based on the results of the vote of the Council of Experts is final and is not a subject to revision.

7. Petite Jury

7.1 The composition of the Petite Jury is approved by the Board of Trustees of the Award upon submission by the Award Secretariat.

7.2 The Chairman of the Jury of the Award is elected by The Board of Trustees.

7.3 The Petite Jury is formed on the principle of broad public representation. Professional writers, cultural figures, scientists, public and government figures, journalists, and entrepreneurs are invited to the Petite Jury of the Award.

7.4 A member of the Petite Jury is not allowed to be a member of the Award Secretariat, the Council of Experts, and the Grand Jury of the Award.

7.5 The list of members of the Petite Jury of the Award is published on the official website of the Award.

7.6 The Petite Jury of the Award reviews the works of the Long List made by the Council of Experts.

7.7 The members of the Petit Jury are responsible for reading the works of the Long List selected by the Council of Experts and evaluating them according to a ten-point system using a scorecard.

7.8 The scorecards are personalized. Completed scorecard is to be submitted to the Award Secretariat by members of the Petit Jury.

7.9 The members of the Petit Jury of the Award vote by submitting completed scorecards.

7.10 The completed and submitted to the Secretariat scorecard is not to be withdrawn or changed.

7.11 If a work created by a member of the Petit Jury of the Award is included in the Long List, this member is obliged to refuse to participate in the voting for all the works or vote for his/her work with a score of zero points.

7.12 The term of office of the members of the Petit Jury of the Award is limited to the Award Season. A member of the Petit Jury of the Award who fails to submit his/her scorecard (except for the case specified in paragraph 7.11) can be removed from the Petit Jury of the Award.

7.13 The decision of the Petit Jury is final and not a subject to revision.

8. Grand Jury of the Award

8.1 The composition of the Grand Jury of the Award is approved by the Board of Trustees of the Award upon submission by the Secretariat of the Award.

8.2 The Chairman of the Jury of the Award is elected by The Board of Trustees.

8.3 The Grand Jury of the Award is formed on the principle of broad public representation. Professional writers, cultural figures, scientists, public and government figures, journalists, and entrepreneurs are invited to the Grand Jury of the Award.

8.4 A member of the Grand Jury of the Award is not allowed to be a member of the Secretariat of the Award , the Council of Experts, and the Petit Jury of the Award.

8.5 The list of members of the Grand Jury of the Award is published on the official website of the Award.

8.6 The Grand Jury of the Award reviews the works of the Short List made by the Petit Jury of the Award.

8.7 The members of the Grand Jury of the Award are responsible for reading the works of the Short List selected by the Petit Jury and evaluating them according to a ten-point system using a scorecard.

8.8 The scorecards are personalized and are to be submitted to the Award Secretariat by the members of the Grand Jury.

8.9 The members of the Grand Jury of the Award vote by submitting completed scorecards.

8.10 The completed and submitted to the Secretariat scorecard is not to be withdrawn or changed.

8.11 If a work created by a member of the Grand Jury of the Award was included in the Short List of finalists, this member is obliged to refuse to participate in the voting on all the works of the Short List or vote for his/her work with a score of zero points.

8.12 The term of office of the members of the Grand Jury of the Award is limited to the Award Season. A member of the Award Grand Jury who fails to submit his/her scorecard (except for the case specified in paragraph 8.11) can be removed from the Award Grand Jury.

8.13 The decision of the Grand Jury is final and not a subject to revision.

9. Procedure for the participants lists forming

9.1 The Long List of works is announced by the Award Secretariat no later than the date specified in paragraph 13.4. The Long List includes works selected by the Council of Experts and nominated for the Award. The Long List is to be approved by the Award Board of Trustees upon presentation by the Award Secretariat. The Long List is published on the Award website and announced in the presence of media representatives.

9.2 The Short List of works is announced by Award Secretariat no later than the date specified in paragraph 13.5. The Short List includes works selected by the Petit Jury and nominated for the Award. The Short List is approved by the Award Board of Trustees upon presentation by the Award Secretariat. The Short List is published on the Award website and announced in the presence of media representatives.

9.3 No later than the date specified in paragraph 13.6 of these Regulations, there shall be a solemn ceremony for the announcement and award of the winners of the Award. Award winners are works nominated for the Award and selected by the Grand Jury. The list of the Award winners is published on the Award’s website and announced in the presence of media representatives.

9.4 Operational management and coordination of the current work is carried out by the head of the Award Secretariat who is an authorized representative of the Founder of the Award.

10. Determination of the results of the vote of the Jury

10.1 The Award winners are determined by counting the number of points received from the voting members of the Award Grand Jury.

10.1.1 In the case of an equal number of points for several works, the number of ballots in which the work received the highest score is counted. The winning entry is the one with the highest number of points. If this indicator is equal, the number of ballots in which the work received the next highest score is counted - and so on.

10.2 The number of points is counted by the Award Secretariat.

10.3 The Jury may meet offline at the invitation of at least 3 members of the Grand Jury sent to the Award Secretariat no later than one month before the announcement of the winners on the official website of the Award. The agenda of the offline meeting may include:
- awarding or not awarding one or more nominations;
- awarding additional nominations (with or without a cash Award).

10.4 The Grand Jury, in case of equality of scores for several works, has the right to decide to vote again on these works at an offline meeting. In this case, paragraph 10.1.1 of these Regulations shall not apply.

10.5 The meeting of the Grand Jury is considered eligible if at least 50% of the number of members of the Grand Jury + 1 vote are present. Only members of the Grand Jury and authorized staff of the Award Secretariat are allowed to attend the Grand Jury meeting.

10.6 The authors of works recognized as winners of the Award are awarded Award packages and funds constituting the monetary part of the Award.

10.7 The Scorecards filled out by the members of the Grand Jury are kept in the Award Secretariat for one year after the announcement of the results.

10.8 The Award Winners are announced at a solemn announcement ceremony and awards ceremony in the presence of representatives of the media and published on the official website of the Award.

11. Nominations

11.1 “Long prose” nomination. Novels, biographies, epics about the Far East are accepted for the Long Prose contest.
Submission of works is made by filling in the application form on the website премияарсеньева.рф.
Applications are reviewed within the framework of the competition procedures.

11.2 Nomination "Short Prose" stories, novelettes, novellas about the Far East are accepted for the Short Prose contest.
Submission of works is made by filling in the application form on the website премияарсеньева.рф.
Applications are reviewed within the framework of competitive procedures.

11.3 Nomination "Prose for Children”. Works for children about Far East are accepted for the Prose for Children contest.
ПSubmission of works is made by filling in the application form on the website премияарсеньева.рф.
Applications are reviewed within the framework of competitive procedures.

11.4 The nomination «For contribution to development of the Far East» is awarded for cumulative merit for long-term work aimed at popularization and development of the Far East in various spheres of society.
The winner is determined by the vote of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Award.
The Award Secretariat forms and submits the list of applicants.

11.5 The nomination «For contribution to the development of modern culture of the Far East» is awarded for achievements aimed at popularizing and developing the culture of the Far East.
The winner is determined by the vote of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Award.
The Award Secretariat forms and submits the list of applicants.

12. Award set

12.1 The Award set consists of a commemorative award sign and diploma. The design (model) of the commemorative award sign and the form of the diploma of the Award shall be approved by the Board of Trustees upon submission by the Secretariat.

13. Timing

13.1 The seventh season of the Award is to be open on February 1, 2025.

13.2 The acceptance of works for the competition is started on the day of the announcement of the Award.

13.3 The dead line for works submission is June 30, 2025.

13.4 The Long list shall be announced no later than September 30, 2025.

13.5 The Short list shall be announced no later than November 30, 2025.

13.6 The Award ceremony is to be held no later than December 25, 2025.

14. Taxes and fees

14.1 All the taxes and fees under current legislation of the Russian Federation are included in to Award amounts.

15. Special sessions

15.1 Special sessions are a series of events held within the framework of the All-Russian Literature Award "Far East" named after V.K. Arseniev, dedicated to the selection, evaluation and awarding of the best works related to a special military operation (SMO).

15.2 Secretariat of special sessions is a working body responsible for forming the Jury of special sessions, selecting the works of nominees, forming the scorecard, summing up the results, organizing and holding the awards ceremony.

15.3 Co-organizers of special sessions – the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Union of Journalists of Russia, TASS, the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "A.M. Gorky Literary Institute" and others.

15.4 Jury of special sessions unites representatives of the Co-organizers of special sessions engaged in proofreading, reviewing and evaluating the works of applicants.

15.5 Awards are given for the best military-themed materials of various formats (prose, poetry, drama, etc.) related both directly to the SMO and to work in the rear (reformatting of enterprises, support for military families, volunteering, etc.). as well as forming and motivating a patriotic perception of a special military operation by society. Each nomination is primarily about meaning, regardless of the format of presentation of the material.

15.6 The selection of nominees' works is made by the Secretariat of special sessions from open sources based on the principle of maximum compliance with the goals and objectives of special sessions, citation and audience coverage.

15.7 The work is assessed by the Jury of special sessions on a ten-point system with the filling in a scorecard.

15.8 The winners of special sessions are determined by calculating the number of points received from the voting members of the Jury of special sessions.

15.9 Information on the number of nominations and the dates of special sessions is published on the website https://премияарсенева.рф.