Target Jeon Ha-young She spent a lot of time under the spotlights… 007
Kimmela leaves are drying up… 075
Kim Ji-yeon's Love... 123
Kim Hye-jin's Mokhwa Mansion... 161
Park Seo-ryeon: Your mom is better at games than you… 197
Now heading towards 0%… 245
Han Jeong-hyeon: Our Wish is a Science Boy… 307

2021 12th Young Writer Award
Judging process… 367
Judges' comments… 370

Jeon Ha-young's "She Spent a Lot of Time Under the Lights" is a story that begins when 'I', a contract administrative assistant, recalls her college days by chance, and calmly shows how the experiences of those passionate yet vulnerable times can be rewritten in the present.
This work, which humorously yet sharply pierces the aura of art that surrounds us, was selected as the grand prize winner, receiving favorable reviews such as, “At a turning point where a new history of art is being written, this novel is more than worthy of the Young Writer’s Award” (literary critic Kang Ji-hee).
Kim Mela's "The Leaves Are Drying" depicts the process of two women who met in a seed-sowing club called "Maeumssang" over a long period of time, drifting apart, and then reuniting again. By doing so, it addresses two of the most pressing issues in our society, the issues of "queer" and "disability," with Kim Mela's signature mystical writing style and gentle vitality.
Kim Ji-yeon's "Love" is a refreshing work filled with the loveliness that emanates from someone who decides to write a "self-centered narrative" without caring about what others think, while revealing the difficulty of a lesbian proving her love and being recognized through her character, who is caught between a girlfriend who asks, "Do we really need to have sex when we love each other?" and a father who says, "Even if we say we're close friends, there's no problem living together, right?"
Kim Hye-jin's "Cotton Mansion" is a work that poignantly yet firmly depicts a time when a landlord and tenant, who were close enough to be difficult to accept by worldly standards, had no choice but to drift apart after facing their own circumstances. It poses a weighty question about what we leave behind as we pass through a certain space and relationship.
Park Seo-ryeon's "The Game Your Mom Plays Better Than You" thrillingly depicts the unexpected entry of a mother, ready to do anything for her son, into the world of gaming, revealing one aspect of the robust and powerful world in which misogyny and the rules of gaming interact and reinforce each other.
Seo Yi-je's "Towards 0%" interweaves the stories of people who, after being captivated by independent films in their childhood, move forward relying on the small light they shed. It speaks of the beauty that only someone who loves something wholeheartedly can experience when the light becomes powerful enough to overwhelm the surroundings, and invites us to stand alongside these people.
Han Jeong-hyeon's "Our Wish is a Science Boy" is a work that is overwhelmingly filled with the intricate details of life set in colonial Joseon. By illuminating characters who struggle to live as "no one else but themselves," it reveals the vivid traces of those who walk toward "love" and "optimism" in a history of hatred that continues to this day.


★

Critics Kim Geon-hyeong, Seonwoo Eun-sil, Oh Eun-kyo, and Jo Dae-han worked together on the arduous and arduous task of reading, discussing, and selecting hundreds of short stories published throughout 2020. Critics So Yoo-jeong, Lee So, and Lim Jeong-gyun later joined the team to make the final selection.
In this way, twenty works written by eighteen writers were delivered to the final judges: Kang Ji-hee, Park Min-jeong, Shin Su-jeong, Lee Seung-woo, and Choi Yun.
The majority of the finalists were new writers who had yet to publish their first collection of works.
The meeting was held in a heated atmosphere.
The process of selecting the seven award winners and one grand prize winner among them through in-depth discussions and voting on the impressive works each person had read was fiercely contested, but a pleasant agreement was reached on the result.
After the judging was over, it turned out that all seven winners were writers who were being introduced to the Young Writer Award for the first time.
The remarkable progress of Kim Hye-jin, who has steadily pursued her own subject matter and now reaches a refined level, as well as Kim Mela, Park Seo-ryeon, and Han Jeong-hyeon, who have taken their writing to the next level by creating intriguing narratives with tight density, was noteworthy. The highly engaging novels of newcomers Kim Ji-yeon, Seo I-je, and Jeon Ha-yeong were also surprising and welcome.
The award-winning work, Jeon Ha-young's "She Spent a Lot of Time Under the Light," is a masterpiece that sharply depicts how existing art has been shaped by intersecting material conditions such as race, age, gender, and class, and takes away the ambiguous aura surrounding artistry.
It was also the result of an intellectual effort to develop a new era's aesthetic sensibility by meta-examining the elements of the art history canon.
I am delighted to introduce to our readers these seven award-winning works, including the grand prize winner.
I hope that the time spent reading these works will be unfamiliar and fulfilling.
_From the 'Review Process'