The award is given annually to two Knesset members, one from the governing coalition and one from the opposition, based on a comprehensive review of several fixed criteria used to determine good parliamentary performance. First, a database is created of the activity of all Knesset members (excluding ministers, deputy ministers, the Speaker of the Knesset, and the previous year's winners of the award) across a range of parameters: attendance at committee meetings, private legislation passed during that year's Knesset session, queries submitted, agenda item proposals debated in the plenum, brief and full-length speeches delivered at plenary sessions, commissioning of research studies from the Knesset Research and Information Center, and plenary attendance, as well as reprimands and punishments received from the Knesset Ethics Committee. Next, the award committee, chaired by retired Justice Theodore Orr, convenes to discuss the list of candidates, and selects the honorees based on the data provided as well as on additional criteria, such as the broader public influence and importance of the candidates’ parliamentary work.