the “critics’ prize” (sometimes called “critics’ special prize”) of the moscow music critics association is awarded to a participant of the international tchaikovsky competition. it is a parallel award and is not an official part of the competition. it was first awarded in 2011 to alexander lubyantsev. subsequently, it was awarded to lucas debargue in 2015 and to aylen pritchin in 2019. in 2011 the award was supported by the mikhail prokohorov foundation and in 2019 by the record label melodiya.