26 Main Prize Nominees Announced; Voting Open Until October 21
Awards Ceremony to Be Held at Lotte Cinema World Tower on October 22
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, together with the Korea Creative Content Agency, announced on September 1 that it has revealed the 26 nominees for the main prize of the 2025 World Webtoon Awards. The ministry also stated that online voting to select the winner of the Readers' Popularity Award will be conducted on the official website until October 21, the day before the awards ceremony.
Now in its second year, the World Webtoon Awards is an event that recognizes outstanding works in order to boost the pride of webtoon industry professionals and strengthen Korea's status as the birthplace of webtoons in the global market. This year's awards ceremony will be held on October 22 at the Lotte Cinema World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
The ministry explained that this year’s call for main prize nominees attracted 1,338 reader-recommended webtoons, demonstrating the high level of global interest in webtoons. In addition, a total of 99 works-including 78 submissions from creators and production companies, as well as the top 21 reader-recommended titles-were evaluated by major domestic webtoon platform representatives. Through a rigorous review, 26 nominees for the main prize were selected. Among the nominees, three works are by Japanese creators.
From the pool of 26 nominees, a final round of judging will determine a total of 10 main prize winners, including the Grand Prize and the Jury President’s Award. The judging panel is composed of around 10 experts representing creators, academia, critics, and the industry, including Jury President Lee Hyunse. Last year’s Jury President’s Award winner, creator Kwangjin, will also participate in the final judging.
This year marks the introduction of the Readers' Popularity Award, a new category in which readers from around the world can participate directly. The Readers' Popularity Award will be given to the nominee that receives the most votes in the online poll among the 26 main prize nominees. Online voting will take place on the official website from September 1 to October 21, the day before the ceremony, and each person can vote once per week for a total of eight times. Participants in the voting will have the chance to win various prizes through a random drawing.
This year’s awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the World Webtoon Festival, which will take place from October 19 to 22 at the Lotte World Ice Rink. During the festival, a special exhibition will be held at the ice rink, and a variety of webtoon pop-up stores will operate at the Lotte Tower from October 16 to 26, before and after the festival.
Information about the World Webtoon Awards and World Webtoon Festival, including the reader voting event and invitations to the awards ceremony, can be found on the official website.
A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "We hope that this awards ceremony will provide an opportunity for webtoon industry professionals and readers around the world to celebrate the achievements of these works together." The official added, "As webtoons have grown through their close connection with readers, we will continue to actively support the industry so that both professionals and readers can enjoy and participate in it together."
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