Internal Statutes

1. General Rules
The Czech Book Award honors, every Spring, a new literary fiction in Czech, published in the country recognized during the previous year.
The event is organized by the Czech Book Prize.

2. Jury and its composition
The jury (ten members) is composed of three academics, three literary translators and three booksellers. The tenth member is the laureate of the previous year. In the event of a tie (5: 5), the Dean of the jury acquires two votes.
In the moment of appointment, the juror should not be an employee of a Czech publishing house (this does not apply to the tenth member of the jury, prize-winner of the previous year). At the beginning of his term, the jury member signs a sworn statement accordingly.
The mandate of a member of the jury lasts nine years (in the case of the first members of the jury, a random draws to decide the length of their terms: three, six or nine years). Every three years, the jury is renewed for a third: each one of the trios chooses a successor for the member whose term expires (the Executive Committee of the Association decides only in the case of a disagreement within a specific group).

3. The Laureate’s Choice
The editors offer their book that meets the criteria set out in Article 1 of the statutes.
The members of the jury have the right to complete the list of titles.
The list of titles is available in real time on the website of the award. Readers are also - until the closing of this list - authorized to propose titles missing, by filling out the form available on the website, this addition is however conditioned by the agreement of one of members of the jury.
In the first selection, the jury chooses 20 titles.
In the second selection, the jury chooses seven nominated titles.
The final vote takes place at the assembly of the jury in Prague. An official declaration of the winner follows. The laureate receives a financial award.

4. World Observers
The Czech Book Award makes links with world publishers who acquire the status of “world observers”.
Shortly after the release of the seven nominated books, World observers receive detailed annotations of each of them.
After the jury’s verdict, they get in addition the translation of a representative sample of the awarded book.
World observer representatives receive an invitation to the Awards ceremony in Prague.