Park Sang-young's "A Taste of the Universe, a Spot of Sea Bass" depicts the "inevitability" of love and the materialism inherent in a conventional world through laughter, tears, sweetness, and saltiness, all in a fast-paced manner, through the story of a mother who denies her son's identity and a lover who denies his own identity, yet unable to leave them.
It was selected as the grand prize winner, receiving praise as “a masterpiece that expands the category of personal history into the universal world” (novelist Eun Hee-kyung) and “a work that is powerful because it is generous and truthful” (novelist Kim Seong-jung).
Kim Hee-sun's "The Origin of the Ball" reconstructs the origin of a soccer ball obtained by chance by a boy in Joseon during the Enlightenment period with a brilliant imagination, while sharply portraying the lives of individuals abandoned behind the grand historical flow.
Baek Su-rin's "Tracies of Time" unfolds the trajectory of the long-term relationship between "I," who went to study abroad in France to find my own life, my older sister who works as a resident in France, and "I"'s French lover, with persuasive sentences and impressive scenes.
Lee Ju-ran's "You Said It Easily" is a refreshing work that evokes a strange sense of empathy by calmly portraying the daily life of a speaker who returns to her hometown and lives her life without being conscious of others.
Jeong Yeong-su's "Us" depicts the protagonist, caught between an adulterous couple, as he becomes immersed in their relationship and reestablishes memories of his former lover, using remarkably natural prose, contemplating the truth of love and the difficulty of writing.
Kim Bong-gon's "Day for Night" is a sensuous story about a narrator who returns to his alma mater as a novelist, recalls his past when he had no choice but to hesitate in the face of dangerous violence, and accepts even that as part of himself, taking a step forward in growth.
Im Sang's "Hagin" satirically depicts the figure of a father from the democratization movement generation who devoted himself to his daughter's college entrance, and exposes the contradictions of the college entrance system and the moral falsehoods of middle-class families in a unique style.

For the 10th Young Writer's Award in 2019, young literary critics Kim Nyeong, Ahn Ji-young, Lee Ji-eun, and Han Seol have completed the first round of judging, selecting approximately thirty short and medium-length novels after much hard work.
This selection process took nearly a year, as the four of them reviewed all new short stories and selected the best ones each season.
Here, literary critics Kim Geon-hyung, Seonwoo Eun-sil, and Lee Eun-ji joined to select a total of 21 works, completing the second round of judging, and proceeded to the main judging to select seven award-winning works and one grand prize work among them.

The main characters were Kwon Hee-chul, Kim Seong-jung, Yoon Dae-nyeong, Eun Hee-kyung, and Hwang Jong-yeon.
There was no long and heated debate in the main.
This means that the achievements of the award winners, including the grand prize winners, were clear enough to be easily agreed upon.
It is interesting to see the rapid progress of Kim Bong-gon, Park Sang-young, Lee Ju-ran, and Jeong Yeong-su, who have just published their first books, and the transformation of Baek Su-rin, who is now showing a level of maturity that does not suit the word "rookie," and the ability of Kim Hee-sun, who wrote the overwhelming long novel "The Book of Infinity," to display in short stories are also notable, and it is welcome that Kim Bong-gon, Kim Hee-sun, and Lee Ju-ran have won the first Young Writer's Award.
Above all, I am glad and fortunate to have discovered the unfamiliar writer, Im Sang, who has no other experience than publishing "Hagin" in the webzine "Biyu."
_From the 'Review Circumstances'

Park Sang-young, "A Sea Bass, the Taste of the Universe"

Park Sang-young's novels do not speak of a world of the few, but rather show and simultaneously dismantle the conventionalized world that defines it.
It's certainly radical and energetic, but its heaviness is made light and sometimes even cute by the skillful narrative.
"A Sea Bass, the Taste of the Universe" is a masterpiece that fully demonstrates such strengths while expanding the category of the personal to the universal world.
Eun Hee-kyung (novelist)

perhaps.
The feelings I once had for him.
That obsession.
That energy, which I could not escape for even a moment, may be something close to religion.
The kind of love that throws one's whole body into a pitch-black realm.
Could it be repeated for decades?
What kind of life is it?
Is Love Truly Beautiful? (Creation and Criticism, Winter 2018)

- Born in 1988.
Debuted in 2016 when his short story "Looking for Paris Hilton" won the Munhakdongne New Writer's Award.
There is a collection of short stories titled “Tears of an Unknown Artist and Zaytun Pasta.”
Won the Young Writer Award in 2018.

Kim Hee-sun, "The Origin of the Ball"

I am amazed at the skill with which he can tell such a realistic lie with just one ball.
A soccer ball literally rolls around in the work, and the locations range from Jemulpo to London to Punjab, touching on imperialism, child labor exploitation, Marxism, and even future discourse represented by the 'brave new world'.
Let's say you dribble with a sentence.
_Kim Seong-jung (novelist)

He needed photographs to tell the story he wanted to tell, the story of making the fake look real, and at the same time making the real look fake.
He knew better than anyone that even the most bizarre story could become true if it had a photograph. (Today's Literature, Spring 2018)

- Born in 1972.
Debuted in 2011 when his short story "The Birth of Education" won the Writer's World New Writer's Award.
There are the short story collections 『Emperor of Ramen』 and 『Golden Age』, and the novel 『The Book of Infinity』.


Baek Su-rin, "Tracers of Time"

If you are an avid reader of Korean short stories, you will know who wrote "The Trajectory of Time" even though the author's name is not mentioned in the text.
No other writer, other than Baek Su-rin, can leave behind such impressive scenes and resonant anecdotes, dealing with the passion, regret, longing, and sorrow of Korean women who moved to France at a young age.
Hwang Jong-yeon (literary critic)

“They are unfortunate.
"We can't give up such a beautiful night because of those unfortunate people." After that, I was no longer afraid of them. (『Consonant and Vowel』, Winter 2018)

- Born in 1982.
Debuted in 2011 when his short story "Lying Practice" was selected for the Kyunghyang Shinmun New Year's Literary Contest.
There are the short story collections 『Falling in Fall』 and 『The Dismal Light』, and the novella 『Dear, Dear』.
In 2015 and 2017, he won the Young Writer Award, the Munji Literary Award, and the Lee Hae-jo Novel Literature Award.

Lee Ju-ran, "You said it so easily"

There is a strange realization that comfort can be achieved simply by empathizing.
Relationships that are parallel yet slightly twisted, everyday lives that seem safe and peaceful but are oppressed by invisible violence and deprivation.
I felt it was a fresh narrative.
Eun Hee-kyung (novelist)

The sounds of my body moving in its own way, the free chirping of birds, the distant bleating of goats, the sound of animals being milked, the whistle of a boy who hasn't yet reached puberty, and the sound of the air—that is, the sound of air, not silence—I listen for a long time. (『21st Century Literature』, Fall 2018)

- Born in 1984.
Debuted in 2012 when his short story "Gift" won the World Literature New Writer's Award.
There is a collection of short stories titled “All Different Fathers.”
Won the Kim Jun-seong Literary Award.

Jeong Yeong-su, "Us"

The novel's narrative contains gaps, passages, and confusions befitting the ambiguity of what people today call love.
“Summer is over.
All the typhoons of that year died down, all the cicadas stopped crying, and all the children came out of the water.
That was all.” Few Korean writers can speak so coolly about the history of love.
Hwang Jong-yeon (literary critic)

After everything is over, revisiting it is not about remembering or recording the past, but rather about reinterpreting and recreating it.
Because it's not about re-experiencing the past, it's about reliving it anew. (21st Century Literature, Fall 2018)

- Born in 1983.
Debuted in 2014 when his short story "Night in Lebanon" won the Changbi New Writer's Award.
There is a collection of short stories titled “The Lovers.”
Won the Young Writer Award in 2018.

Kim Bong-gon, "Day for Night"

I noticed the unique appeal of this work, which I discovered in the process of describing a character's growth story.
This can be interpreted to mean that the author has finally discovered a way to build a castle using his own unique style of speaking.
_Yoon Dae-nyeong (novelist)

I became a person who valued the meaning of things that were not the first more.
I learned that there is nothing that can be done in love without begging.
I became a man who likes men, and became a person who likes men, and became a person who fails a little less (『Consonant and Vowel』 Summer 2018)

- Born in 1985.
Debuted in 2016 when his short story "Auto" was selected for the Dong-A Ilbo New Year's Literary Contest.
There is a collection of short stories titled “Summer, Speed.”

Im Sang, "Hagin"

The process by which the protagonist-narrator of this novel attempts to understand and correct his life through the mastery of words and thoughts, but is ultimately defeated, and then struggles to understand and correct that defeat is special.
It's surprising that an author known only for his debut work has written such a powerful novel.
Kwon Hee-cheol (literary critic)

The wife stopped talking and took a long, short breath.
Sometimes a comma, sometimes an ellipsis.
Well, I don't.
Well, he is a man who does it.
At least my brother knows how to listen to others and then go out and get some fresh air.
A human who knows how to walk slowly and alone...
That's how much it can change.
Well, as much as you can do. (Webzine Biyu, April 2018)

- Born in 1982.
Debuted in 2018 with the publication of “Hagin” in the webzine Biyu.