The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a state-run organization established to promote Korean culture content overseas, is gearing up for its annual competition, the “Korea Content Awards ― Story Division,” to scout out new creative writing.
The agency announced Monday that it will be kicking off the application process for the awards competition July 1. It will accept submissions online until July 8. Any individuals or teams who are citizens of Korea are eligible to apply.
“A good story constitutes the basis for K-content, and especially amid the rapidly changing content industry, the need for a good story has become more and more important,” Lee Hyun-?joo, the head of the pop culture division at KOCCA, said in a statement. “I hope that this contest can act as a source for the content market industry, and provide opportunities and a platform for creators to challenge themselves.“
The competition was formally called the “Korea Story Competition” until 2019, and has since become an important part of KOCCA’s major annual event, the Korea Content Awards, which marks its 13th anniversary this year.
The competition was launched in an effort to discover creative story ideas that could be used in various fields of the cultural content industry, and to provide government awards to their creators.
There are five categories to the contest: theatre, cartoons (webtoons), animation, video (for drama and film) and publishing. The applicants choose a category for their submission, depending on which industry they wish to introduce their ideas to, and potentially create a product in.
The submissions are evaluated by different criteria, including: originality, quality of completion and marketability.
A total of 15 submissions across the categories will be selected to receive awards. One of them will win the highest honor, the President’s Award. Runner-up prizes will be awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism to four submissions, and the rest of the 10 awards will be awarded by KOCCA.
The total amount of prize money for the awards will be 350 million won ($313,000), and the award ceremony will be held in December.
The winners will be offered support in the form of matching them with businesses to help make their stories into a final product. The winners will also be given priority when they apply for spaces in the Story Writing Center.
“KOCCA is planning to get various businesses to scout out excellent stories through contests and to support the whole cycle of production and distribution with those ideas,” the agency said.
Applications for the “Korea Content Awards ― Story Division” can be submitted via KOCCA’s website between July 1 and 8.