Songpa-gu Characters Haha and Hoho Win 'Grand Prize'

At the National Character Competition Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency... Among 137 Participating Characters Nationwide, Songpa-gu Awarded 'Best'... Featuring Olympic City Story ▲Outstanding Design ▲Meaningful Character 'HahahaHoho' Developed... Recognized for Excellent City Brand Value in First Competition Appearance

Songpa-gu (Mayor Seo Gang-seok) announced that its representative characters, ‘Haha, Hoho,’ have been honored with the Grand Prize at the 6th Our Neighborhood Character Awards, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency.

Since its inception in 2018, the Our Neighborhood Character Awards is a contest that selects the best character among representative characters from local governments and public institutions nationwide, regarded as the most prestigious character selection competition in South Korea.

A total of 137 regional and public characters competed fiercely in this year’s contest.

Notably, Songpa-gu’s characters ‘Haha, Hoho,’ participating for the first time, were selected as the Grand Prize winners through expert judging (50%) and public voting (50%). Achieving the Grand Prize on their first entry, they have been recognized for their potential and excellence.

‘Haha and Hoho,’ newly introduced by Songpa-gu on January 1 this year, represent Songpa by incorporating the story of the 1988 Olympics held in Songpa-gu. The district utilizes them in various promotional materials such as eco-bags, grip-toks, mascot costumes, and mobile phone emoticons, winning much love from residents with their lively charm and cute appearance.

Additionally, they showcased their appeal by playing a major role at Songpa-gu’s representative festival, the Hansung Baekje Cultural Festival held in September, and the Our Neighborhood Character Festival held in October. At the promotional booth, products featuring Haha and Hoho were displayed, and SNS events giving away these items were held, gaining great popularity among visitors.

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “I thank all the residents who voted for and supported Songpa-gu’s new characters ‘Haha and Hoho,’ which tell the story of the Olympic city.” He added, “We will continue to strive to promote the brand value of Songpa-gu to more people together with our representative characters ‘Haha and Hoho.’”