Yeungjin College Sweeps Its 8th Grand Prize at the College Student Exhibition Design Competition

The Exhibition Design major in the Department of Interior Design at Yeungjin College in Daegu (President Choi Jaeyoung) swept both the Grand Prize and the Excellence Award at the 13th College Student Exhibition Design Competition, setting a remarkable record with its 8th Grand Prize overall.

The College Student Exhibition Design Competition is the only exhibition design contest in Korea that is open to students from 2-year and 4-year colleges nationwide. It is co-hosted by the Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association and the Korea Exhibition Design Association, and sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

At the awards ceremony of the 13th University Student Exhibition Design Competition held at COEX, (from left) Professor Choi Jaeyoung, Choi Youngwoo, Jung Soyoon, Park Sunyoung, Kim Jina (Grand Prize), and Lee Cheongho (Excellence Award) are pictured together.

This year’s competition was held under the theme of “Experience-Centered Exhibition” and was divided into the “Home Appliances Division,” which evaluates the completeness of traditional exhibition booths, and the “Creative Exhibition Division,” which invites proposals for new exhibition directing techniques. A record-high of more than 30 universities participated. Only 10 teams passed the preliminary round to advance to the finals, where the final rankings were determined after a 10-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A session.

In the finals, the Yeungjin H2O team (third-year students Park Sunyoung, Jung Soyoon, Choi Youngwoo, and Kim Jina) won the Grand Prize (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award) in the Creative Exhibition Division with their work “COWAY Revulet.”

The Grand Prize-winning work “COWAY Revulet” used the Coway brand as its subject and proposed an experiential corporate culture exhibition hall (popup space) that can be installed anywhere in everyday life. It received high praise for going beyond simple product display and being designed so that visitors can directly experience the corporate philosophy of “cleanliness.”

The Cheongha Art Troupe team (second-year students Lee Cheongho, Hyun Jiye, and Shin Hayoon) received the Excellence Award (President of the Korea Exhibition Industry Promotion Association Award) in the Home Appliances Division with their work “The Identity of Sound.”

In addition, five other teams were selected for honorable mention, meaning all seven participating teams (19 students) won awards. Notably, this department has participated in the competition from the 4th edition through the 13th and has won the Grand Prize a total of eight times, maintaining its unrivaled record as an “eight-time Grand Prize winner.”

H2O team members Jung Soyoon and Park Sunyoung commented, “It is especially meaningful that we were able to make up for the disappointment of winning only an Excellence Award in the previous competition by winning the Grand Prize this time.”

This achievement is backed by field-oriented, customized education. Established in 2016, the Exhibition Design major has built an industry-academia cooperation system with the Korea Exhibition Design Installation Association, systematizing joint curriculum development, on-site training, internships, and employment linkage. It also operates education optimized to industry demand through the establishment of field-mirroring practice rooms and project-based classes focused on practical work.

These results are also demonstrated in employment outcomes. Of the 16 students majoring in Exhibition Design who graduated in February 2026, 15 secured jobs before graduation, and 13 of them joined exhibition design specialist companies in the Seoul metropolitan area. The employment rate reached 93.8%.

Department Chair Professor Kwon Kitae of the Department of Interior Design stated, “With pride in producing top-class talents in the fields of interior and exhibition design nationwide, we have reorganized our program into a three-year curriculum,” and added, “We will continue to focus on nurturing practice-oriented professionals who can be deployed to the field immediately.”