"A Country Where No Contest Is Needed"... Ministry of Gender Equality Holds Award Ceremony for Co-Care Photo Exhibition

Participation from 7 Countries for the First Time This Year

A platform was created for countries around the world to share their experiences of 'matdolbom,' a form of co-parenting among family members. At the '2023 Matdolbom Photo and Video Contest Awards Ceremony' hosted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, diverse daily life photos of families practicing co-parenting were revealed.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held the awards ceremony on the morning of the 19th at HW Convention in Jongno-gu, Seoul. For the first time this year, embassies from seven countries including Sweden, France, Denmark, Norway, Spain, and the Philippines attended the ceremony.

Since 2020, the Ministry has been conducting a co-parenting photo exhibition together with Sweden to promote the culture of 'caring together.' This year’s contest received a total of 1,740 photos and videos by August, and after three rounds of judging, 17 winning works were selected.

The Grand Prize (1st place) was awarded to Chaeyeonhee (South Korea) for a photo titled "Enjoying Brushing Teeth Happily Before Bedtime." The Runner-up Prize (2nd place) went to Bildeolason (Norway) for "Making Our Child Smile Was the Easiest" and Park Jongguk (South Korea) for "Together Yet Apart." Fourteen other winners received Consolation Prizes. A total of 34 people, including the winners and their families, attended the ceremony. The Grand Prize included a cash award of 3 million KRW and round-trip airfare to Sweden, while the Runner-up Prize (2 million KRW) and Consolation Prize (500,000 KRW) were also awarded accordingly.

At the ceremony, a space was set up to exhibit the winning photos and video works, along with related displays. Attendees enjoyed the exhibits together and exchanged thoughts on matdolbom during a roundtable discussion.

Cha, the Grand Prize winner, said, "Raising three children makes it hard to even find a second to take a photo," adding, "I think this award is telling me to work hard at matdolbom." Ahn Sang-eun, a Consolation Prize winner, said, "Receiving this award makes me feel like I’m doing matdolbom well," and added, "I hope this culture spreads well so that someday we won’t even need to hold contests on this topic."

Kim Hyun-sook, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, who attended the ceremony, stated, "A culture of gender equality must be established so that people can care for children, raise them together, share household chores, and pursue professional careers together," and added, "We will work as a good ministry to spread the culture of gender equality."

Daniel Bolven, Ambassador of Sweden to Korea, also said, "Equal roles and responsibilities in parenting are essential not only for family life but also for the economic sustainability of the nation, and I hope this contest contributes to raising awareness of an equal matdolbom culture."

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