On September 26 (Thur), Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism YU In Chon visited the opening day ceremony of the 2024 World Webtoon Festival to welcome webtoon fans and encourage K-webtoon industry stakeholders. The Minister also attended the 2024 World Webtoon Awards ceremony, where the Grand Prize was awarded to the popular webtoon Solo Leveling.

With exclusive programs, World Webtoon Festival (September 26–29, 2024) offers a haven for webtoon enthusiasts

The 2024 World Webtoon Festival, held September 26–29 in Seongsu-dong, is the first comprehensive global festival dedicated exclusively to webtoons held in the birthplace of webtoons, Korea. Fourteen production and two platform companies leading the webtoon sector  participated in the event to provide enjoyable and engaging experiences for anyone interested in webtoons.

Festival highlights include merchandise based on first-time released webtoons, photo zones featuring representative webtoon IP (intellectual property), a “Webtoon Four-Cut” photobooth with popular characters, and other technology-driven exhibitions and immersive experiences from platform companies, all  must-see attractions for webtoon fanatics. The festival also features exhibitions that offer a glimpse into the genre’s evolution, a showcase of government policies to support comics and webtoon production, and works from the Youth Webtoon Academy for the Disabled. Additionally, the festival will also run an onsite campaign against illegal distribution of comics and webtoons. With such exclusive programs, the World Webtoon Festival is expected to establish itself as a haven for webtoon fans worldwide.

First World Webtoon Awards to award Grand Prize to Solo Leveling and Head of Jury Award to The Great

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), in collaboration with the Korea Creative Content Agency (Acting Director YOO Hyun Suk, KOCCA), hosted the first-ever World Webtoon Awards (September 26). Among the top ten winning webtoon titles announced on September 8, Solo Leveling was awarded Grand Prize while The Great received the Head of Jury Award. The World Webtoon Awards recognizes outstanding achievements among all webtoon works published around the world in terms of their quality and their contributions to the advancement of the industry. This year’s first Awards ceremony awarded a total of 13 prizes, including ten main prizes and three special prizes.

The Grand Prize winner Solo Leveling is a global sensation, with more than 14.3 billion views. The story follows a talentless hunter Sung Jin-Woo, who gains extraordinary abilities and transforms himself from the weakest to the strongest hunter through various missions, and ultimately saves the world. In addition to  significantly helping webtoons to become a global genre, this work continues to showcase its potential for exponential growth, having been adapted into printed volumes, a game, and an animation series.

The Head of Jury Award-winner The Great is a follow-up work by Kwang Jin, the creator of Itaewon Class. This webtoon garnered acclaim for its relatable themes, immersive storytelling, and warm and gentle artwork as the series continued to unfold. The narrative circles around the protagonist YOO Bora, who has evolved from a dreaming girl to a woman in love and now a mother and breadwinner for her two children. Having caught the attention of various media outlets, the webtoon is set to be adapted into emoticons, comic volumes, animations and an original soundtrack (OST). The award was presented by the Head of the Jury Lee Hyun-se.

MCST to Increase Budget by KRW 4.6 Billion to Foster K-Comics and Webtoon Sector in 2025

On January 23, MCST announced its strategy to develop the comics and webtoon sector, unveiling plans to position K-comics and webtoons as the next leaders in K-content and to lead the global market. To this end, the Ministry has increased the 2025 budget for initiatives focusing on comics and webtoons by KRW 4.6 billion (an 18.2% increase), for a total budget of KRW 29.5 billion.

Notably, the Ministry will newly roll out the Global Webtoon IP Production program (KRW 4.55 billion), which aims to support the production of globally successful works like Solo Leveling — this year’s Grand Prize winner and now a globalized webtoon IP — and the Local Webtoon Content Discovery and Support program (KRW 2 billion), which will enable Korean webtoon production studios to collaborate with local authors to secure IP and support the localization of webtoons.

“I am delighted to fulfill the promise I made in January during the presentation of the comics and webtoon sector development strategy — to launch a festival where all webtoon stakeholders, including readers, creators, and industry professionals, can come together,” said Minister YU In Chon. “The Ministry will continue to support the inaugural webtoon festival and awards ceremony to ensure it becomes a success and continues expanding its horizons to become a representative international event for Korea.”