Books are nominated  for the Award by invited public libraries in cities throughout the world – making the Award unique in its coverage of international fiction. Titles are nominated on the basis of ‘high literary merit’ as determined by the nominating library.

Each year a panel of distinguished international judges is put in place under a non-voting chair. They have the epic task of considering each book from the longlist and narrowing it down to a shortlist of up to 10 titles. They must then enter deliberations to come up with the final winner by June of each year.