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April 15, 2024

Gearing Up for the 19th Seoul International Drama Awards

The 2024 Seoul International Drama Awards (SDA) is gearing up to take place in September. Check out updates and notices on SDA’s website. By Ching Wai.

South Korea - The 19th Seoul International Drama Awards (SDA) will take place from 25 to 27 September this year. The awards ceremony and red carpet event will take place at Yeouido KBS Hall, and the ceremony will be broadcast live on SBS TV. The worldwide drama festival has already begun taking in submissions since 11 March, and will stop doing so on 16 May.

This year’s award show has three main categories - the International Competition, the International Invitation, and the K-Drama Competition. Nominees will be announced by the SDA Organising Committee (SDAOC) on the SDA website and will be notified individually after preliminary selection. So far, entries from India, Albania, Greece, Austria and Afghanistan can be seen on the SDA website’s entry status page.

The International Competition category includes the Grand Prize, Best TV movie, Best Miniseries, Best Series, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Actor and Best Actress. All winners under this category will be selected by the jury.

The International Invitation category includes the Golden Bird Prize, the Special Prize and the Outstanding Asian Star. The SDAOC will select one best series of the year to be given the Golden Bird Prize along with the series lead. The SDAOC will also choose the winner for the Special Prize. Up to seven winners for the Outstanding Asian Star will be selected through global fan voting.

The K-Drama Category includes an Outstanding Korean Drama award, an outstanding Korean Actor/Actress award and an Outstanding Korean Drama O.S.T award. Winners for the former two awards will be selected by the jury, while the winner for Outstanding Korean Drama O.S.T will be selected through global fan voting.

Reception and public screening are set to take place in Seoul on top of the award ceremony. The Drama Talk Concert, attended by award-winning production teams, and various promotion events for upcoming Korean dramas will also take place at Banpo Hangang Park.

There are also updates to the entry regulations. Participants should note that there are no limits to the number of submissions for each programme - TV Movie, Miniseries and Series - under the International Competition category. English-speaking dramas also need not have English subtitles, except for when other languages are expressed. The changes are uploaded on the SDA website.

The SDAOC, led by Chairman Park Min, stated, “Due to the popularity of K-dramas, overseas interest in the international drama festival held in Korea is also hot. Since from the big titles of worldwide market to the diverse genres are waiting for the submission, it is worth looking forward to this year’s festival as well.”

The event is hosted by the SDAOC and Korean Broadcasters Association, and sponsored by IDOLCHAMP. Supporters of the event include the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Seoul Metropolitan Government, KBS, MBC, SBS, EBS, and CBS.

Last year’s winners include France’s The Fragile Colossus, Greece’s Act Like You’re Asleep, China’s Meet Yourself and The Long Season, South Korea’s Reborn Rich, Extraordinary Attorney Woo and The Glory, U.K.’s Mayflies, and Mexico’s Belascoarán, PI.