Herald Webtoon Contest announces winners

A webtoon about a young woman and her domestic helper has won the top prize at the first Herald Webtoon Contest, organized by the Herald Corporation. The winner, Seung Jeong-yeon, will receive 15 million won ($13,000) in prize money.

Titled "Your House Helper," Seung's piece tells the story of Mi-rae, who lives in her boyfriend's house while he's on a long-term business trip to New York. She is insecure about their relationship and is afraid that he'll leave her for his attractive ex. The story develops as Mi-rae hires a personal helper to clean the house, as her boyfriend suddenly informs her of his early return.

A scene from artist Seung Jeong-yeon's "Your House Helper," which won the top prize at the first Herald Webtoon Contest. (Herald Webtoon Contest)

"Any urban professional would easily relate to the characters of this piece," said the judges, commenting on "Your House Helper." "It is also very conscious of smart devices and how they work. We also thought the piece has a lot of potential to become a great online webtoon series."

Kim Gyeong-yeon's fantasy work "Heim" won the second-highest prize, winning 8 million won in prize money.

"The piece reminds one of a narrative of an online game and was excellent in character development and storytelling," the judges said. "It also received great response from the online readers."

Park Se-jun's period drama "Gwanggeom" won the third prize, receiving 5 million won in prize money. Artists Hwang Mi-yeon and Kim Song-ee's romance "While We Are Together" and Kim Ji-seob's family drama "Mini Velo" won the fourth prize, each receiving 3 million won. A total of nine works were also given honorable mentions, each receiving 1 million won.

The top five winners will be given an opportunity to turn their winning works into an online series and publish them on the online edition of The Herald Business, one of the dailies published by the Herald Corporation.

A total of 160 pieces have been submitted for this year's competition. Among them, 41 made it to the finals, and were posted online for votes. The judges then selected 14 winners based on their evaluations and the poll results.

By Claire Lee ( dyc@heraldcorp.com)< ⓒKoreaHerald(www.koreaherald.com)무단전재 및 재배포 금지 >