Grand Prize Winner of the 40th Onnara Gugak Competition: Jeong Yeon-woo from Hanyang University

Jeong Yeon-woo, the grand prize winner of the 40th Onnara Gugak Competition
Photo by National Gugak Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Jeong Yeon-woo (22), a junior at Hanyang University, won the grand prize at the 40th Onnara Gugak Competition.

On the 5th, at the 40th Onnara Gugak Competition held at the National Gugak Center's Pungnyu Sarangbang, Jeong received the prestigious grand prize, the Presidential Award, and a prize money of 10 million KRW for his performance of 'Seoyongseok-ryu Daegeum Sanjo.' Jeong competed in the daegeum category and claimed the grand prize. The Prime Minister's Award for Excellence went to Hong Se-in (19), a first-year student at Seoul National University, who won in the geomungo category with 'Hangapdeuk-ryu Geomungo Sanjo.'

In the grand prize competition, first-place winners from 11 categories?gayageum, geomungo, daegeum, piri, haegeum, ajaeng, jeongga, pansori, minyo & gayageum byeongchang, composition, and percussion?who advanced through preliminaries and semifinals held in July competed against each other. This year, percussion was officially adopted as a category for the first time. A total of 154 judges, including holders of national intangible cultural heritage in gugak, professors, composers, and performers, participated in judging the preliminaries, semifinals, and grand prize competition.

The Onnara Gugak Competition was originally scheduled for April to May but was postponed once due to COVID-19. It was held under strict quarantine measures, and as a result, the grand prize performance was held without an audience. A total of 390 applicants registered, 299 competed in the preliminaries, and 6 from each of the 11 categories advanced to the semifinals, resulting in 33 awardees in total.

A major benefit of the Onnara Gugak Competition is that male winners of the Excellence Award in wind, string, and vocal categories are recommended for military service exemption.

Grand prize winner Jeong Yeon-woo said, "I am overwhelmed to receive such a great award in my first participation in the Onnara Gugak Competition. Preparing for the competition helped me learn a lot, and I will continue to work hard."

The National Gugak Center's Onnara Gugak Competition is hosted by the National Gugak Center and the Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Performing Arts, with sponsorship from Hana Bank. Since the first National Gugak Competition held at Jangchung-dong National Theater in 1981, it has established itself as a gateway for gugak talents.