The nominating committee welcomes programmes — presented by or endorsed by the mayor of the city making the application — that promote and foster reading. The programmes are to run from one World Book and Copyright Day and the next. The nomination committee will turn its attention to certain criteria:

• the submission of an activity programme specifically conceived for the World Book Capital and implemented during the city's term as Capital with long-term benefits for partners and society at large; a general outline of expenses foreseen and fund-raising strategies;
• the degree of municipal, regional, national and international involvement, including professional and non-governmental organizations, and the foreseeable impact of the programmes;
• the quantity and quality of one-time or ongoing activities organized by the applicant city in collaboration with national, regional and international professional organizations representing writers, publishers, booksellers and librarians respecting the various players in the book supply chain and in the scientific and literary community;
• the quantity and quality of any other noteworthy projects promoting and fostering books and reading;
• conformity with the principles of freedom of expression, freedom to publish and to distribute information, as stated in the UNESCO Constitution as well as Articles 19 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (Florence Agreement).

Application file to include:

• A carefully fulfilled application form to be send with the subject: “Application (name of the candidate-city)” to the wbcc@unesco.org

• A support letter given by the Mayor of the city

• A support letter given by the National Commission for UNESCO confirming the application of the city

• Two support letters given by the active national professional associations (e.g. National Writers Assocation)

• 3 pictures of the applying city on books (in .jpeg and max. 3MB)

• A fulfilled form of “Rights and Photos Waiver” form

Jury:

• UNESCO mandated Committee includes one representatives each from:
• IPA; International Publishers Association
• IBF; International Booksellers’ Federation
• IFLA; International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
• UNESCO Representative

• World Book Capitals:
• 2001 Madrid / Spain (First ever World Book Capital)
• 2002 Alexandria / Egypt
• 2003 New Delhi / India
• 2004 Antwerp / Belgium
• 2005 Montreal / Canada
• 2006 Turin / Italy
• 2007 Bogota / Colombia
• 2008 Amsterdam / Netherlands
• 2009 Beirut / Lebanon
• 2010 Ljubljana / Slovenia
• 2011 Buenos Aires / Argentina
• 2012 Erivan / Armenia
• 2013 Bangkok / Thailand
• 2014 Port Harcourt/ Nigeria
• 2015 Incheon/ South Korea
• 2016 Wroclaw/ Poland
• 2017 Conacry/ Guinea
• 2018 Athens/ Greece
• 2019 Sharjah/ United Arab Emirates
• 2020 Kuala Lumpur/ Malaysia