The prize is awarded to young (up to 33-year-old) researchers for "outstanding contributions in fields of theoretical physics related to Bogoliubov's scientific interests". The awardee is one who has demonstrated "early scientific maturity" and whose results are recognized worldwide and peer-reviewed. The laureates generally emulate Bogoliubov's own skill in using sophisticated mathematics to attempt to solve concrete physical problems (mostly in the fields of nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics).