'National Youths Compete in the Webtoon King Contest'
A Cultural Festival Featuring Figure Exhibitions and Orchestra Performances
The '2025 Sangju Comic Webtoon Festival', held by Sangju City in North Gyeongsang Province over two days from May 17 to 18, concluded successfully, receiving enthusiastic responses from visitors with its diverse content and programs.
This event, organized by the Sangju City Library, was designed to strengthen its identity as a library specializing in comics and to establish its status as a cultural platform for building the foundation of the webtoon industry.
The event that drew the most attention was the '2nd National Webtoon King Contest Finals'. At the opening ceremony, Sangju Mayor Kang Youngseok delivered a keynote speech and a banner performance was held on the library rooftop, unveiling the theme 'Initial SJ' and officially announcing the start of the competition.
Thirty-one teams of middle and high school students from across the country, who passed the preliminary round, completed their works on-site over about four hours despite the hot weather. The judging panel consisted of six experts, including a director from the Daegu Webtoon Association. In the end, one team won the grand prize, two teams received the top excellence award, two teams received the excellence award, two teams received the encouragement award, and four teams received special awards.
The award winners were as follows: Grand Prize - Lee Eunsol (Mokpo Girls' Commercial High School); Top Excellence Award - Team 'Jaemyae Gongjang' (Wooseok Girls' High School), Yoon Jayoung (Nohwa High School); Excellence Award - Choo Jaehui (Cheonan Yonggok Middle School), Park Sarang (Mokpo Girls' Commercial High School); Encouragement Award - Park Jiin (Cheongri Middle School), Jeon Hyerim (Wooseok Girls' High School). During the festival, a figure exhibition featuring various genres was held on the second floor of the library and attracted great popularity.
There were also special sessions where attendees could meet popular webtoon artists. Joo Donggeun, creator of 'All of Us Are Dead'; Park Taejun, creator of 'Lookism'; and Shin Taehun, creator of 'Don't Let Go of Your Mind', participated and shared vivid stories about their creative worlds, lives as artists, and the webtoon industry as a whole with the audience.
The highlight of the event was a performance by the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra at the Sangju Library's Sang-sang Madang, sponsored by the library. Around 800 citizens filled Sang-sang Madang and Sangju Citizens' Culture Park, where the 40-member orchestra performed a wide range of music, from Studio Ghibli OSTs to classical masterpieces, receiving enthusiastic applause.
In addition, a variety of side events were held, including an outdoor comic library, cosplay team performances, outdoor animation screenings, webtoon drawing experience classes, and one-day classes, expanding cultural opportunities for citizens.
Mayor Kang Youngseok of Sangju said, "I would like to congratulate and encourage the students who won at the National Webtoon King Contest, and I thank all the students and parents who visited Sangju to participate in the finals. Through this festival, we will continue to support Sangju City's growth as a hub of the webtoon industry."
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