Korea to host a global webtoon festival

A global webtoon festival and awards ceremony will be held in Korea, the birthplace of webtoons. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Sunday that it will host the "2024 World Webtoon Festival" from Sept. 26 to 29 at S Factory in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. The ministry collaborates with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Korea Creative Content Agency, and Seoul Business Agency for the festival. With the growing global popularity of webtoons and the expansion of their intellectual property (IP) into dramas and films, the event aims to create a festival for webtoon fans. The festival will feature pop-up stores from webtoon companies where attendees can purchase and experience related products.

Pop-up stores will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the festival at one central hub and three nearby specialized corporate venues. On the 1st and 3rd floors of the central hub, pop-up stores and special exhibitions from webtoon production companies will take place. At the same time, the specialized venues will showcase content based on webtoon story universes. Additionally, attendees can enjoy immersive experiences such as AI caricatures, augmented reality (AR) photocards, photo experiences linked to webtoon IPs, talk concerts with webtoon creators, and live drawing shows.

On Sept. 26, the "2024 World Webtoon Awards" will take place at S Factory, where outstanding webtoon works will be recognized. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, after conducting an international competition and receiving recommendations from the awards committee, reviewed a total of 104 webtoons. From these, 10 works were selected for the main awards and three for special awards. Among the main award winners is “Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint,” along with nine other works. The grand prize winner will be announced during the awards ceremony.


Sang-Un Kim sukim@donga.com