"Future Antique Shop" Wins Grand Prize at World Webtoon Awards

A Shaman Girl Battles Evil Spirits,
Spotlighting Korean Occult Themes
Jury President's Award Goes to "Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint"

Kim Youngsoo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is presenting the Grand Prize to Gu Ajin, the author of "Future Antique Shop," at the World Webtoon Awards ceremony held on the 22nd at Lotte Cinema World Tower Branch, Theater 8.

The webtoon "Future Antique Shop" has won the Grand Prize at this year's World Webtoon Awards.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency held the 2nd World Webtoon Awards ceremony on October 22 at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and announced this work as the Grand Prize winner. The story follows a young shaman named Mirae as she battles the evil spirit Baekmyeon, who threatens the world through exorcism. It has been praised for capturing the essence of the Korean occult genre. Author Gu Ajin commented, "I believe this award will be a great source of strength as I work toward the completion of the series."

The Jury President's Award went to "Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint." Based on a web novel of the same name, this work tells the story of a person who knows the ending and tries to survive in the world of the novel. With a combined total of 2.5 billion views across the web novel and webtoon, it is considered a representative "super IP," and a film adaptation is currently in progress.

Jury President Lee Hyunse stated, "The Grand Prize is awarded to the best work in the story industry, while the Jury President's Award goes to a work with outstanding achievements. Webtoons must move forward with both wings."

Kim Youngsoo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is taking a commemorative photo with the award recipients at Hall 8 of Lotte Cinema World Tower on the 22nd during the 'World Webtoon Awards' ceremony.

The newly established Readers’ Choice Award for this year was given to "If I Can’t Debut, I’ll Die." This award was determined solely by reader votes. The main prize winners included "The Uncanny Counter," "Superhuman Era," "The Fourth Husband," "Identical Daughter," "Maru is a Puppy," "Tears of a Withered Flower," "Abimusang," and "True Education," among others.

The World Webtoon Awards is an international ceremony that welcomes entries from creators of all nationalities and regions, with no restrictions on the country of origin or platform. This year marks its second edition.

Kim Youngsoo, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, "The Korean webtoon market is like an 'elementary school student who excels academically.' We will actively support talent development and research and development to scale up the current 3 trillion won market to 30 trillion won and eventually 300 trillion won."