Eligibility is limited to books published between April 30 of the preceding year and May 1 of the current year.
Voting is a two-round process.
A first vote in September reduces the dozen nominees to five finalists, and a second vote in October produces the winner. New York University's Department of Italian conducts both the vote and the award ceremony, which is held at the Casa Italiana in the fall. A majority are university students. The rest are journalists, editors, translators, librarians, scholars, and other cultural figures. Most live in the United States, but a significant number of past jurors have been from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, and South Africa.