Pierre Giffard, editor of Le Petit Journal, conceived the event to publicise his newspaper, stimulate public interest in motoring, and encourage French motor manufacturing. Sporting events were already a proven circulation booster, and Giffard framed the contest around a deceptively simple criterion: the prize would go to "the competitor whose car comes closest to the ideal" — meaning a vehicle that was "not dangerous, easy to drive, and cheap during the journey." The "easy to drive" condition had a decisive practical consequence: any vehicle requiring a travelling mechanic or stoker, including all steam-powered cars needing a fireman, was disqualified from the main prize, though not from the event itself.
Le Petit Journal announced prize money totalling 10,000 gold francs: 5,000 francs for first place, 2,000 for second, 1,500 for third, 1,000 for fourth, and 500 for fifth.
One hundred two people paid the ten-franc entrance fee. They ranged from serious manufacturers — Peugeot, Panhard et Levassor, de Dion-Bouton, and Serpollet — to amateur owners and those with "over-ambitious concepts." Seventy-eight entrants did not appear for qualifying, including some 25 proposing vehicles powered by gravity, compressed air, electricity, gas, hydraulics, propellers, and even levers.
Qualifying ran across three days from 19 to 21 July 1894, preceded by a public exhibition of 26 cars at Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 July. Journalists reported great crowds and excitement throughout the routes around Paris. The qualifying distance was 50 kilometres and had to be completed in under three hours. Vehicles were split into five interwoven touring groups covering routes through locations including Mantes-la-Jolie, Versailles, Rambouillet, Corbeil-Essonnes, and Précy-sur-Oise. From around 22 starters across the qualification days, 21 vehicles were selected to start the main event.
At 8:00 am on Sunday 22 July, the 21 qualifiers departed from Porte Maillot and headed via Neuilly-sur-Seine, Courbevoie, Nanterre, Chatou, Poissy, Triel-sur-Seine, and Mantes — where they paused for lunch from noon until 1:30 pm — before continuing through Vernon, Gaillon, and Pont-de-l'Arche to the Champ de Mars at Rouen.
Jules-Albert de Dion, driving a steam-powered vehicle, was the first to arrive in Rouen, completing the course in 6 hours and 48 minutes at an average speed of 19 km/h, finishing 3 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Albert Lemaître in a Peugeot. Auguste Doriot (Peugeot) was third, 16 minutes 30 seconds back; Hippolyte Panhard (Panhard) was fourth, 33 minutes 30 seconds back; and Émile Levassor (Panhard) fifth, 55 minutes 30 seconds behind.
On Tuesday 24 July, Le Petit Journal announced the prizes. Because de Dion's steam vehicle required a stoker — making it ineligible under the "easy to drive" criterion — he did not receive the main prize, the Prix du Petit Journal. Instead, that 5,000-franc prize was shared equally between manufacturers Panhard et Levassor and Les fils de Peugeot frères, whose petrol-powered cars best embodied the ideal of practical, driver-operable transport.
De Dion received the second Prix Marinoni (2,000 francs) for his "interesting steam tractor that works like a horse and gives both absolute speed and pulling power up hills." Third prize went to Maurice Le Blant for his nine-seat Serpollet-powered vehicle. Fourth prize was shared between Alfred Vacheron and Le Brun; fifth went to Émile Roger in a Benz.
The Paris–Rouen contest proved that internal combustion engines were not merely laboratory curiosities but capable of sustaining long-distance travel on public roads. The victory of petrol-powered cars from Peugeot and Panhard et Levassor — and the disqualification of the physically fastest vehicle because it needed a stoker — effectively validated the self-contained petrol automobile as the practical direction for the industry.
The event directly inspired the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race of 1895, which dropped the qualitative judging criteria in favour of pure speed, and set the template for the intercity racing era that would define motoring sport through the turn of the century. The prize system also prompted the Automobile Club de France to reorganise subsequent events so that the fastest finisher was unambiguously the winner.