State Prize of the Russian Federation

The State Prize of the Russian Federation, officially translated in Russia as Russian Federation National Award, is a state honorary prize established in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award were significantly changed, making them closer to such awards as the Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin Prize.

Every year seven prizes are awarded:

Only three prizes for humanitarian work have been awarded so far: to Patriarch Alexius II, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (2005), to Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (2006) and to French President Jacques Chirac (2007).

The award consists of a cash prize amounting to 5 million Russian rubles (approximately $200,000), a medal and a certificate. If a number of coauthors equally contributed to a prize-winning work the prize is divided among no more than three authors.

The prize is presented by the President of Russia in a ceremony held in Grand Kremlin Palace at the Moscow Kremlin, on 12 June, Russia Day, which is broadcast by the major channels in the country.

The medal for the State Prize was developed by the artist Yevgeny Ukhnalyov (Евгений Ухналёв). The design is based on the coat of arms of Russia. It shows a gold double-headed eagle holding a scepter and a globus cruciger with a red shield depicting St. George and the Dragon. The eagle is crowned by two small and one large crown and put on a silver wreath consisted of palm and laurel branches joined by a red ribbon. The design was adopted in 2005.

Complete listings are available on Russian Wikipedia; for example: Laureates of the State Prize of the Russian Federation for 1992, over 60 names of recipients.

According to the newspaper Kommersant there was a fourth State Prize for Science and Technology awarded by a special decree of President Dmitri Medvedev but the name of the winner is kept secret because of the confidential character of the work.