2025 Kyobo Bookstore Story Award Grand Prize Goes to Shin Jaemin's "Saengga"

Grand Prize Awarded to Shin Jaemin's "Saengga"
"Unique Theme and Rich Sense of Time and Space Stand Out"
Highly Praised for Its Screen Adaptation Potential

Shin Jaemin's "Saengga" has been selected as the grand prize winner of the 13th Kyobo Bookstore Story Award. This mystery work, notable for its unique theme of "restoring a birthplace" and its rich sense of time and space, received high praise from the judges as "the most likely work to be adapted for the screen" among all entries, leading to its selection as the grand prize winner.

Shin Jaemin, the grand prize winner of the 13th Kyobo Bookstore Story Awards. Photo by Kyobo Bookstore

Celebrating its 13th year in 2025, the Kyobo Bookstore Story Award is a novel competition co-hosted by Kyobo Bookstore, Studio S, and Showbox, with the aim of discovering original intellectual property and revitalizing the domestic creative IP market. This year, the contest received a record-breaking 3,030 submissions. After a thorough review, 11 works were selected as the final winners.

The top prize in the full-length and mid-length novel category went to Kim Yujin for "The Left Eye of the Sphinx," while the top prize in the youth full-length and mid-length category was awarded to Jung Eunyeong for "This Life Is a God Life." The excellence awards in the full-length and mid-length category (three works) were given to Kim Betty's "Nokwoo Art Museum," Kim Aeri's "Blacklist," and Park Hyeyoung's "Galactic Decade Manager Park Haeyeon."

The excellence awards in the short story category (five works) went to Choi Juhui's "Transplanting Service," Lee Seonhwa's "Whales Fall," Yang Jisook's "Pinky Promise," Kim Yoonsu's "The Taste of Tiger," and Won Haril's "Home.zip."

The winners will receive prize money as follows: 50 million won for the grand prize, 10 million won each for the top prizes in the full-length/mid-length and youth full-length/mid-length categories, 5 million won each for the excellence awards in the full-length/mid-length category, and 2 million won each for the excellence awards in the short story/youth categories. The winning works will be published as either print books or e-books, and secondary commercialization is also under consideration.

To date, more than 350 IP contracts have been signed through the Story Award. Of these, over 210 works have been published as print books and e-books, and more than 100 works have been adapted into a variety of secondary products, including films, dramas, audiobooks/dramas, and stage performances.