Gaon chart announces winners for 1st music awards ceremony

Poster for Gaon chart's K-Pop Awards [Gaon]

Winners of the "2011 Gaon Chart K-POP Awards," hosted by Korea's music chart Gaon, were announced last night.

Joined by artists, producers, composers, choreographers and 1500 guests in the audience, the three-hour long festivity was held at the Blue Square Hall in Seoul, and was broadcasted live through television networks and a portal website.

Being the first officially recognized music chart in the country, Gaon compiled online and offline data to select the most popular artists in 2011 under several categories.

Categories for the awards include Rookie Artist Award, Newly Discovered/Rising Artist Award, Singer of the Year Award, Album of the Year Award, Oricon Special Award and Foreign Music Award.

The ceremony’s Singer of the Year Award was selected among the monthly popular artists based Gaon’s poll over the last year.

Some of the notable winners last night were girl group Secret and IU who scored big under the Singer of the Year Award category, by taking home two awards for January and June, and February and December, respectively.

Big Bang, who released their special edition album and a mini-album early in 2011, grabbed first place for the month of April.

TVXQ was handed the album of the year award for the first quarter followed by BEAST during the second quarter, Super Junior in the third quarter and Girls' Generation during the final quarter of 2011.

Girls’ Generation also took the Oricon Special Award -- an award given by Gaon and Japanese music chart Oricon's judges.

- List of winners for the 2011 Gaon Chart K-POP Awards

▶ Singer of the Year Award (Album-based): TVXQ (1st Quarter), BEAST (2nd Quarter), Super Junior (3rd Quarter), Girls' Generation (4th Quarter)
▶ Singer of the Year Award (Track-based): Secret (Jan), IU (Feb), K. Will (March), Big Bang (April), 2NE1 (May), Secret (June), T-ara (July), LeeSSang (August), Davichi (September), Lee Seung-gi (October), Wonder Girls(November), IU (December)
▶ Rookie Artist Award: Huh Gak, Kim Bo-kyung, A PINK, B1A4
▶ Composer of the Year Award: Yoon Sang
▶ Lyricist of the Year Award: Kim Eana
▶ Performer of the Year Award (Chorus): Kim Hyun-ah
▶ Performer of the Year Award (Instrument): Kang Soo-ho
▶ Style Award (Choreography): Prepix
▶ Style Award (Stylist): Seo Soo Kyung
▶ Technical Excellence of The Year Award: Ko Seung-wook
▶ Newly Discovered Award: Noel, Girl's Day, The Koxx
▶ New Media Platform Award: Youtube, DAUM
▶ K-Pop Contribution Award: Lee Soo-man
▶ Producer of the Year Award: Kim Kwang-soo
▶ Oricon Special Award: Girls' Generation
▶ Foreign Music Award: Maroon5

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