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 May of each year which will be announced at the opening of ILFDublin.