Woongjin ThinkBig announced on the 22nd that it held the award ceremony for the 16th Woongjin Junior Literary Awards and the 7th Picture Book Awards contest.
The ceremony, held on the 19th at the Woongjin ThinkBig headquarters, was an event where the judges, including children’s author Song Eon, presented awards to the winners of each category of the 2023 contest.
Winners of the 16th Woongjin Junior Literary Award (from left) Ji Yoon-kyung, Seo Yul, and Oh Neul. (Photo by Woongjin ThinkBig)
This contest was open to both established and new writers without distinction. The ‘Literary Awards’ category, which selects works containing deep emotion and fun, received 203 submissions, while the ‘Picture Book Awards’ category, which discovers imaginative picture books, received 182 submissions.
The grand prize for the Literary Awards went to Seo Yul’s "Luxury Travel" in the long-form children’s story category and Ji Yoon-kyung’s "Soongsungi and Me" in the short-form category. The grand prize for the Picture Book Awards was awarded to Kim Do-kyung’s "Let’s Live Together." Additionally, the Literary Awards long-form excellence award went to Ohul’s "Summer, First Snow," and the Picture Book Awards excellence award went to Hong Seung-yeon’s "Where Is This? Who Am I?"
Woongjin ThinkBig awarded a total prize money of 60 million KRW, including 20 million KRW for the grand prize, and plans to publish all winning works as standalone books.
Judge and picture book planner Kim Soo-jung said, “We selected the winning works focusing on excellent pieces that can truly communicate and interact with young readers,” adding, “We express our gratitude to Woongjin ThinkBig for helping convey the beauty and value of books to children of this era, as well as to all the authors who submitted their works.”
At the event, Ahn Kyung-sook, head of Woongjin ThinkBig’s Book Development Office, said, “It was a meaningful event where we were able to discover unique works filled with fresh themes and distinctive imagination,” and added, “We will do our best to continue holding the contest so that talented authors’ works can keep being introduced to the world.”
Meanwhile, the Woongjin Junior Literary Awards and Picture Book Awards are contests held by Woongjin ThinkBig since 2007 and 2017 respectively, to discover outstanding authors and works that will lead the Korean children’s literature scene. Award-winning works are published as standalone books, and to date, over 50 works have been published in print. Starting from March, submissions for the 17th Literary Awards and 8th Picture Book Awards contest in 2024 will begin.
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