The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST), in collaboration with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), hosted the 2025 Korea Content Awards – Story Category Ceremony to recognize 15 award-winning works on November 25 (Tuesday) at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Now in its 17th year, the Korea Content Awards – Story Category (formerly the Korea Story Contest) serves as a platform for discovering original stories with the potential to expand into all field of K-content, including comics and webtoons, performing arts, animation, drama, and film. The competition offers an opportunity for writers to showcase their stories, while establishing itself as an important venue for K-content companies seeking to source new intellectual properties.

15 finalists out of 2,448 submissions selected through a three-stage review by 177 judges

A total of 2,448 submissions were made for this year’s call for entries from February 24 to May 20, recording an impressive 163:1 competition rate. Including Chief Judge Lee Myung-han, CEO of Egg is Coming, a panel of 177 judges conducted a three-stage review process, announcing the 15 winners for the Presidential Award, Grand Prizes, and Excellence Awards on October 21.

Writer Lee Youmi won the Presidential Prize for Ille, a story about a human girl who makes a deal with God Ille (deity of child-rearing and diseases) and embarks on a seven-day journey to save her sister. The judging panel praised the work for “reimagining regional folklore to create new characters and a new story universe, delivering a meticulous and highly engaging narrative.”

Four works received Grand Prizes (MCST Minister’s Award): Post-it Lady (Chae Heon), Posthumous Execution (Kim Min-su), Crocodile (Jang Eun-jun), and Gyeongseong Auctioneer Lee Seunghwa (Cho Ji-eun). Ten works were presented with Excellence Awards (KOCCA President’s Award): Hanyang Modern Girl, Parandyeon (Jung Eun-hwa), Fracture (Choi Young-in), Interpreter Grace (Gye Kyung-base), Suddenly (Park Jae-hyun), Vine of Numbers (Choi Jung-seok), The Love of a Herbivorous Dinosaur (Jo Eunnal), Mongsori (Yoon Moon-sung), Jeonse Reversal (Seo Mi-ran), Ellen: The Cipher of Loss (Ko Seo-hyung), and Glory Days of Yeong-ja (Choi Ki-seok). Winners received official winner certificates with a total of KRW 320 million in prize money: the Presidential Award, KRW 50 million; Grand Prizes (MCST Minister’s Award), KRW 30 million each; and Excellence Awards (KOCCA President’s Award), KWR 15 million each.

Winning works commercialized through Content IP Market 2025

MCST and KOCCA will actively support the commercialization of the winning works through the Content IP Market 2025, to be held from November 25–27 at COEX, Seoul. Winning authors are to directly engage with industry stakeholders, participating in Open Talk events to share the thinking behind their works and to address any questions. The event will also facilitate one-on-one business meetings between authors and companies for potential commercialization opportunities, directly connecting authors with broadcasters, production companies, and platform operators. These efforts aim to help the commercialization of recognized original stories by supporting their adaptations into other high-quality content.