At times, these contests are used by writers who have already debuted to test out their creative abilities. This kind of contest began in 1977 by Minumsa called “Today’s Writer Award” and the contest aims to award prizes to the best unpublished full-length novel regardless of whether the author is new or not. Those who bypass newspaper or literary magazine contests usually win prizes in competitions for full-length novels. There are other ways to debut as a writer or “ deungdan” (appear on the stage) without going through the ritual of being reviewed by other writers, critics or literary editors. Writers like Kim Ae-ran, Yoon Go-eun and Jung Han-ah appeared on the literary scene thanks to this contest. There is one competition just for university students that began in 2002 by the Daesan Foundation in hand with Changbi Publishers. If the aforementioned contests held by newspapers are geared more towards existing readers, the magazines tend to select innovative and experimental works that fit the respective magazines’ images.

There are many South Korean writers who begin their literary careers by winning prizes in these competitions as well.

Prominent literary magazines like Literature and Society, Munhakdongne (Literary Neighborhood), Creation and Critique and Hyundae Munhak (Modern Literature) also hold contests of their own for up and coming writers. For many, a long time is spent honing their craft. The writers usually win around 5 million won per prize and winning an award at these annual competitions is considered a great honor. South Korea’s literary editors read these works at the beginning of the year, assess the literary potential the writers have and start contacting the new authors.

This tradition began in 1925 by DongA Ilbo newspaper and for the next near century, South Korea’s key writers would first meet readers through this method. These contests by the papers are called “sinchunmunye”, which would translate into “spring literary contest”. Every January 1st, South Korea’s key newspapers print literary works that have snagged awards, like short novels, poems, reviews and fairy tales. Authors of South Korea usually start their careers by writing short stories.

Cho nam ju