Chronicle of the Bunin Prize

Grand Prix: Vadim Mesyats, for "Electric Treatment."
Nomination: Prose
The first-ever awards season, timed to coincide with the 135th anniversary of Ivan Bunin's birth, established the main selection criterion: fidelity to the classical musicality of Russian poetry. The award has resoundingly established itself as the new guardian of the canons of Russian literature.
The jury highly praised the author's original style, which combines the traditions of classical prose with contemporary imagery.

Grand Prix: Andrey Bitov, "Journey from Russia," "Palace Without a Tsar."
Nomination: Prose and Fiction
The year was marked by great prose. Andrey Bitov's monumental work "Journey from Russia" is a philosophical reflection on the country's fate through the lens of travel, written in impeccable, Bunin-like language.
The jury recognized the author for his outstanding contribution to world literature.

Grand Prix: Andrei Dementyev, for his collection "New Poems" and outstanding contribution to Russian poetry.
Nomination: Poetry
A poet whose lines were known and sung by the entire country. "New Poems" proved that lofty civic lyricism and poignant confessionality can be understood by millions while remaining a model of rigorous literary mastery.

Grand Prix: Yuri Polyakov, collected works and novels "The Mushroom King" and "Word for Word."
Nomination: Autobiographical and Memoir Prose, Novels
Alexander Kabakov's short story cycle "Moscow Tales" was a true triumph of the season. The author masterfully combined Bunin-esque psychologism, irony, and mystical realism, creating a gallery of portraits of a bygone Moscow era.
The jury singled out the short stories as an example of a brilliant urban novel—a mosaic.

Grand Prix: Yuri Loshits, for the "ZHEL" series of documentary and fiction books (about Cyril and Methodius and Dmitry Donskoy).
Nomination: Historical Fiction and Biography
The jury recognized the author for his careful attention to historical facts.
The ceremony confirmed the award's status as the country's leading poetic tuning fork.

Grand Prix: Larisa Vasilyeva, historical documentary duology "Kremlin Wives" and "Children of the Kremlin."
Theme of the year: Romance and large-scale fiction
Larisa Vasilyeva's extensive research, written at the intersection of high fiction and documentary essay, revealed new facets of historical psychology and Bunin's traditions.
The prize recognized the author for her unprecedented contribution to the development of the historical novel genre.

Grand Prix: Boris Yevseyev, for the musical and historical novel "Yevstigney."
Nomination: Fiction
The award was given for the unique linguistic exploration of the fate of the forgotten Russian composer Yevstigney Fomin.

Prize: Maxim Amelin, for the book "Bent Speech"
Theme of the year: Poetry, civic lyrics.
The Bunin Prize jury noted Maxim Amelin's "daring" innovation, deeply rooted in the archaic traditions of the Russian ode and classical diction.

Grand Prix: Nikolai Dobronravov, for his book of poems, "An Unknown Star Shines."
Nomination: Poetry
The renowned poet and songwriter received the top award for creating poems that have become an important part of the country's cultural code.

Prize: Viktor Likhonosov, memoirs.
Subject: Historical fiction.
The 2014 Bunin Prize was awarded to Viktor Likhonosov, a writer whom critics have called the main successor to Bunin's "watercolor" prose of the 20th century.

Grand Prix: Leonid Bezhin, collection "A Man in Marriage."
Nomination: Fiction
The jury noted the laconic mastery of the short story genre and the subtle irony in the description of everyday life.

Grand Prix: Zakhar Prilepin, historical biography "Leonid Leonov."
Theme of the Year: Prose.
The award recognized the breadth of Leonid Leonov's biography.

Главный лауреат: Игорь Волгин, цикл исследований о Достоевском.
Тематика года: Публицистика.
Жюри Бунинской премии отметило фундаментальность исследований Игоря Волгина о Великом русском писателе Фёдоре Михайловиче Достоевском.