Andrei Bely Prize Andrei Bely Prize The Andrei Bely Prize (Russian: Премия Андрея Белого; "Premiya Andreya Belovo") is the oldest independent literary prize awarded in Russia. It was established in 1978 by the staff of "Hours", the largest samizdat literary journal in Leningrad, to recognize excellence in three categories: prose, poetry, and theory. Among its founders were Boris Ivanov, Boris Ostanin, Viktor Krivulin, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, and other eminent figures of uncensored literature. The prize was named for Andrei Bely, whose influence spanned Russian poetry, prose, and humanitarianism. Materially, the prize consisted of an apple, a single ruble, and a bottle of vodka. Despite
Nobel Prize in Literature prizes include the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and in the 1960s the Formentor Prix International. In contrast to the other prizes mentioned, the Neustadt International Prize is awarded biennially. The journalist Hephzibah Anderson has noted that the Man Booker International Prize "is fast becoming the more significant award, appearing an ever more competent alternative to the Nobel". The Man Booker International Prize "highlights one writer's overall contribution to fiction on the world stage" and "has literary excellence as its sole focus". Established in 2005, it is not yet possible to