Naju City, 3rd Baekho Imje Literary Award Grand Prize and Naju Literary Award Selected

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong] Naju City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Kang In-gyu) announced on the 28th that poet Kim Jong’s ‘Dokdo Postbox’ was selected for the 3rd Baekho Imje Literary Award, and writer Park Yi-su’s ‘If Alone’ was selected for the Naju Literary Award.

The ‘Baekho Imje Literary Award,’ held for the third time this year since 2018, is a literary contest to honor the literary achievements of Baekho Imje, a mid-Joseon Dynasty writer and thinker from Naju.

The literary award is biennial and divided into the main awards for poetry and novels, and the Naju Literary Award to encourage citizens’ literary creative activities.

The contest targeted works published within the last two years (excluding those with other literary award histories), and the final winners were selected with a focus on reflecting Baekho’s sharp spirit of the times and literary achievements.

The honored main award winner, poet Kim Jong’s work ‘Dokdo Postbox,’ is a handwritten poetry and painting collection created by writing 72 poems directly with a brush and adding paintings, just as Joseon-era scholars personally transcribed and published literary collections with brushes.

The title work ‘Dokdo Postbox’ expresses pride in Dokdo and the spirit of independence and patriotism in the Jeolla dialect through a postbox.

A judging official explained the selection reason: “Dokdo Postbox is a handwritten poetry collection combining poetry, calligraphy, and painting (Shi-Seo-Hwa), expressing the national history’s grief (Han), historical consciousness, and spirit of the times, continuing Baekho Imje’s literary spirit and broadening the horizon of Korean poetry through diverse poetic forms.”

Poet Kim debuted in 1976 through the JoongAng Ilbo New Year Literary Contest and has published poetry collections such as ‘Rose Garden,’ ‘Kindling Fire,’ ‘Thoughts of Bae Jung-son,’ and ‘Practice Going to You.’

His major awards include the National Poetry Award, the 1st Korean Gasa Literature Award, and the Shindonga Art Festival Grand Prize. He also served as a judge for the 26th Chusa Kim Jeong-hui Memorial National Calligraphy Contest.

Following the main award, the Naju Literary Award winner, writer Park Yi-su’s novel ‘If Alone,’ vividly portrays ‘elderly women’ who remain on the margins in Korean society entering an aging society, focusing intensively on their boiling inner energy.

In the judging comments, an official evaluated, “This work uniquely embodies a naturalistic sensitivity to civilization and social criticism through dual characters.”

Park Yi-su, from Naju, graduated from Gwangju University’s Creative Writing Department and debuted in 2014 with the novel ‘Container’ in the Gwangju Ilbo New Year Literary Contest. Her works include ‘Legend of the Buoy.’

The award ceremony for the 3rd Baekho Imje Literary Award main prize and Naju Literary Award is scheduled to be held at 2 p.m. on the 14th of next month at the Baekho Literature Museum.

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