Itaeje 'Pureunsal', Grand Prize Winner of the 10th Kyobo Bookstore Story Contest

Grand Prize Winner of Kyobo Bookstore Story Contest, Writer Lee Tae-je

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] The grand prize of the 10th Kyobo Bookstore Story Contest, hosted by Kyobo Bookstore and co-hosted by Studio S Co., Ltd. and Showbox Co., Ltd., was awarded to author Lee Tae-je’s work "Pureun Sal".

According to Kyobo Bookstore, about 2,100 applicants submitted over 2,400 works to the contest. It was the largest scale ever, with many works showing a higher standard and smoother transition to OSMU than ever before. Kyobo Bookstore stated, “After intense discussions among the organizers and professional judges, a total of 14 winning works were selected based on overall composition completeness, popularity, originality of subject and theme, and character expression.”

The grand prize-winning work "Pureun Sal" appropriately blends the moral concept of conscience into the SF genre, addressing the unclear origin of ‘evil’. It was praised for its unique near-future dystopian worldview never seen before, and its profound thematic consciousness questioning the essence of humanity and the meaning of good and evil.

Grand prize winner Lee Tae-je said, “I used to write alone, but I wanted to share my story with others, so I participated in the contest and unexpectedly won a big prize. I think I will be able to write with even more joy in the future. I thank my family and friends who supported me, and the Kyobo Bookstore Story Business Team and judges who gave me this precious opportunity,” expressing his gratitude.

The Excellence Award went to △ Park Yi-gang’s "Annyeong, Chloe", and the long and medium-length category Excellence Awards were given to △ Choi Gu-sil for "From Prison to Girl" △ Kang Eun-ha for "My Husband Won" △ Son Jang-hoon for "The Drama of My Life" △ Grilang for "Aging" △ Lee Aram for "Terrarium".

The short story category Excellence Awards were given to △ Lee Seung-hoon for "Baseball Rulebook Chapter 8. ‘General Instructions to Umpires’" △ Kang Sotppul for "Hey, Chicken!" △ Kim Dan-han for "Ieodo Sana" △ Go Ban-ha for "A Human-like Summer" △ Ham Seo-kyung for "too much love will kill you".

In the children’s story category, △ Baek Hae-young’s "Ghost-Chasing Bi-hyeongrang" and △ Min Hu’s "You Know, I" were selected as Excellence Award winners.

Story contest winners receive prize money as follows: grand prize 50 million KRW, excellence award 10 million KRW, long and medium-length excellence awards (5 winners) 5 million KRW each, short story excellence awards (5 winners) 2 million KRW each, and children’s story excellence awards (2 winners) 2.5 million KRW each.

Each winning work will undergo expert doctoring according to genre and commercialization direction and will be published as paper books or e-books. Published books will receive marketing support through Kyobo Bookstore’s online and offline channels, and especially secondary commercialization such as films and dramas will be promoted in cooperation with co-hosts.

So far, Kyobo Bookstore has discovered about 350 IPs and 250 authors through 10 story contests. Among them, 156 works have been published, and about 60 works have been developed into various secondary products such as films, dramas, radio dramas, and plays. In the first half of next year, the drama adaptation of "Pureun Bokseo Lee Gwon-suk" by author Chu Jong-nam, the winner of the 2nd contest, is scheduled to be released.

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