Artist Kim Bong-su's 'Hon' Wins Top Prize at National Gimhae Museum Gaya Webtoon Contest

From the left, Lee Jeong-geun, Director of the National Gimhae Museum; Choi Hwan-seok, recipient of the Daegaya Sang Award; Lee Yoo-jin, recipient of the Gaya Beogeum Award; Kim Bong-su, recipient of the Gaya Eutteum Award.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] The National Gimhae Museum, in collaboration with Goryeong County, announced ten award-winning works of the ‘5th National Gimhae Museum Gaya Webtoon Contest.’ The ‘Gaya Webtoon Contest’ aims to discover creative content based on the history and culture of Gaya.

According to the National Gimhae Museum, this year’s contest was jointly planned with Goryeong County to introduce the diverse history and culture of Gaya, including Daegaya. Submissions were accepted from June 13 to August 28, and ten winning works were selected across five categories: Gaya Eutteum Award, Gaya Beogeum Award, Daegaya Award, Gayanuri Award, and Gayageumbada Award.

The top prize, the Gaya Eutteum Award, went to Kim Bong-su’s work titled ‘Hon.’ It received the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award and a prize of 3 million KRW. ‘Hon’ depicts the war during the fall of Daegaya and was highly praised by the judging panel for its excellent narrative connection based on historical facts. Kim Bong-su said, “While preparing for the contest and researching materials, I learned about Gaya’s history. Through this work, I want to inform many people about Gaya’s history.”

The Gaya Beogeum Award (Director of the National Museum of Korea Award) was awarded to Lee Yoo-jin’s ‘Find Me at the Museum!’ and the Daegaya Award (Goryeong County Governor Award) went to Choi Hwan-seok’s ‘Daegaya’s Potter.’ Each received a prize of 2 million KRW. ‘Find Me at the Museum!’ was noted for its originality of characters and story completeness, while ‘Daegaya’s Potter’ was praised for expressing Gaya pottery-making methods in a friendly art style.

Additionally, the Gayanuri Award was given to Lee Min-gu’s ‘It’s Dark Under the Blast Furnace,’ Lee Eun-je’s ‘The Lament of the Gayageum,’ and Lee Ye-ji’s ‘King Suro and the Night Shift Diary.’ The Gayageumbada Award went to Choi Woo-young’s ‘Gimhaerang Gayarang,’ Choi Mi-kyung’s ‘The Pain of Leaving,’ Chae Jae-ho’s ‘Help Me, General!,’ and Hwang Sun-hee’s ‘Bellflower.’

The National Gimhae Museum and Goryeong County plan to sequentially post the winning works on blogs and official websites.