Female Farmer Overcoming Trials Wins Grand Prize in Essay Contest

Announcement of Winners for the 4th Women Farmers' Essay Contest

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the winners of the "4th Women Farmers Essay Contest," held on the theme "Please Tell Us Various Stories from Rural Areas" on the 6th. Now in its fourth year, this contest was planned to encourage women farmers to participate, boosting their pride as professionals and enhancing their life satisfaction through literary creative activities.

The grand prize was awarded to Oh Seunghee from Jindo, Jeonnam. Her work, titled "I am a Farmer," was praised for resolutely and confidently portraying the story of a farmer who overcame hardships such as raising Korean cattle, typhoon damage, and the pain of losing her son by cultivating pesticide-free kiwifruit and producing healthy food.

Oh Seunghee encouraged women farmers to proudly carry out tasks that only they can do as farmers themselves, not just as farmers' wives or assistants, and also urged them to participate in the essay contest for women farmers.

This year’s contest saw an increase in the quality of submissions compared to last year, as well as a higher participation rate among young women farmers. The entries covered a variety of themes, including everyday experiences and overcoming hardships faced by women farmers in rural life, adaptation stories of return-to-farming youth women farmers, and multicultural women adjusting to rural life.

Five judges, including essayist Ban Sukja, who has won multiple awards such as the 2018 "Jo Kyunghee Essay Literature Award," evaluated and selected the winners based on criteria such as pride as women farmers, authenticity of experience, and literary quality. The 20 winning essays will be compiled into a collection and distributed to the winners, local governments, and agricultural-related organizations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.