A new prize is now being offered to Jews who credit their religious identities for the accomplishments they’ve made in any field of interest, JTA has reported.

The Genesis Prize, which comes with a hefty reward of $1 million, is widely being dubbed the “Jewish Nobel Prize,” as it will only be given to Jews who have excelled in their respective academic or professional pursuits.

Israel and Russian leaders are collaborating to select recipients and generally finance the new foundation. News of the prize broke on Tuesday when the Israeli prime minister’s office released a statement that included words from Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and the Genesis Philanthropy Group founder Mikhail Fridman.

The Genesis Philanthropy group consists of a cohort of Russian oligarchs (billionaires) who are dedicated to preserving the Russian Jewish identity in the Diaspora. A ceremony is scheduled to be held annually near the time of Passover to announce the winners of the award.

The winners will be selected after retired judges, Jewish community leaders, and reps from the Israeli government and the Genesis Group evaluate the candidates in a multi-stage process. The prime minister will ultimately declare the victors.

“The Genesis Prize emphasizes the contribution of the Jews to world history,” Mikhail Fridman said in the statement, according to JTA. “Far-reaching achievements in science, the arts, business, medicine, diplomacy and other fields of human endeavor have been realized thanks to the Jewish people’s natural aspiration to improve the world, and to its desire to pass its moral values on to coming generations. This tradition of the Jewish People must continue.”

The idea for the new prize developed during the last three years, after Fridman, who initially proposed the idea, consulted with Sharansky, PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and others from the prime minister’s office, explained CEO and co-founder of Genesis, Stan Polovets.

“Our foundation and the Jewish Agency under Natan Sharansky are focusing on ensuring that the next generation of Jews grows up with a strong sense of Jewish identity and Jewish values,” Polovets said, JTA reported.

Perhaps answering to critics who say the award is being established to send a political message that Israel and Russia are on good terms, Polovets said he and his fellow philanthropists saw themselves not only as Russians, but as global Jewish citizens with a cause.

“We consider ourselves as global citizens and see [the need to fight assimilation] as a global issue for the Jewish People,” he added, according to JTA.