Ten Main Award Winners of the “2026 World Webtoon Awards” Announced

- Awards ceremony to be held on December 3 at Starfield Library, Starfield COEX Mall

- Each Main Award winner to receive a trophy and KRW 10 million; Grand Prize and Jury Chair’s Award to be announced at the ceremony

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST), together with the Korea Creative Content Agency (President KIM Yoon-ji, KOCCA), has announced the ten Main Award winners of the “2026 World Webtoon Awards.” Launched in 2024 and now in its third year, the World Webtoon Awards aims to foster pride among webtoon industry professionals worldwide and to strengthen Korea’s standing as the birthplace of webtoons in the global market.

Ten Main Award Winners Selected through Expert Evaluation and Reader Voting

This year’s Main Awards went to ten works: “My S-Class Hunters,” “Debut or Die!”, “A Man’s Man,” “On the Way to Meet Mom,” “The Greatest Estate Developer,” “Cry, or Better Yet, Beg,” “JAKDU: Shaman’s Blade,” “Omniscient Reader,” “Killer Peter,” and “Return of the Blossoming Blade.” Each winning work will receive a trophy and prize money of KRW 10 million.

The Main Award winners were selected from 20 finalists that had passed a preliminary round, based on the combined results of expert evaluation (50%) and online reader voting (50%). The expert panel, chaired by cartoonist LEE Hyun-se, brought together 11 specialists from the creative, industrial, and academic fields, who comprehensively assessed each work’s overall quality, achievements, and potential for expansion. Online reader voting was conducted from September 17 (Thursday) to October 19 (Monday) on the official World Webtoon Awards website (www.webtoonawards.kr).

Grand Prize and Jury Chair’s Award to Be Selected from the Ten Main Award Winners and Announced at the December 3 Ceremony

The “2026 World Webtoon Awards” ceremony will be held on December 3 (Thursday) at 4:00 p.m. at Starfield Library in Starfield COEX Mall. The Grand Prize and the Jury Chair’s Award will be chosen from among the ten Main Award winners and announced at the ceremony. The Grand Prize winner will receive a certificate and an additional KRW 5 million in prize money, while the Jury Chair’s Award winner will receive a certificate and an additional KRW 3 million.

A range of special awards, including the “Popularity Award” and the “Best Overseas Work Award,” will also be presented at the ceremony. The Popularity Award will go to the work that received the most votes in the online reader vote among works not selected for a Main Award, and the Best Overseas Work Award to the overseas work that earned the highest score from the expert panel. Additional special awards will recognize works and industry professionals that have contributed to raising the profile of webtoons.

“World Webtoon Festival” to Be Held from December 2 to 6

In conjunction with the awards ceremony, the World Webtoon Festival will take place from December 2 (Wednesday) to 6 (Sunday) at COEX Hall B in Samseong-dong, Seoul, and throughout Starfield COEX Mall. The festival will offer a variety of hands-on events, including special exhibitions featuring Korean and international webtoons and their intellectual property (IP), webtoon pop-up stores, and programs bringing creators and fans together. Through these offerings, the festival aims to create a celebratory space where webtoon creators and industry professionals can share their achievements and where readers at home and abroad can experience the appeal of webtoons firsthand. Detailed information on related events is available on the official website (www.wefe.kr).

CHOI Seong-hee, Director-General for Content Industry Policy at the MCST, stated, “I offer my sincere congratulations to the ten works and the creators honored with this year’s Main Awards.” She added, “I hope the ‘World Webtoon Awards’ and the ‘World Webtoon Festival’ will serve as a celebration that honors the achievements of creators and industry professionals and brings together webtoon professionals and readers from around the world. I also hope that many people will visit, enjoy the many attractions of webtoons, and share in the joy and inspiration our webtoons offer.”

Attachment: Introduction to the Main Award-Winning Works