Who will be the protagonist of this year’s ‘Baeksang Arts Awards’?
The 61st Baeksang Arts Awards will be held today at 8 PM at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul. It will honor the best works and actors in the broadcasting (TV), film, and theater categories for the first half of 2024 and 2025. The event will be hosted by broadcaster Shin Dong-yup, actress and singer Suzy, and actor Park Bo-gum. The three have consistently collaborated since 2018, except for 2021 when Park Bo-gum was absent due to military service.
In particular, ‘the veteran of Baeksang’ Shin Dong-yup will be hosting for the 11th time this year, while Suzy celebrates her 10th anniversary as a Baeksang MC. Park Bo-gum is also making his 7th appearance as an MC, solidifying his status as the face of Baeksang.
This year’s theme for the Baeksang Arts Awards is ‘Sailing Towards’. It embodies the support of the Baeksang Arts Awards for the development and journey of popular culture and arts moving beyond Korea to the world.
As a prestigious domestic awards ceremony, the Baeksang Arts Awards promises fierce competition for awards this year as well.
In the Best Acting category for outstanding performances in broadcasting, five male and female nominees have been selected. The male nominees include Park Bo-gum (Netflix’s ‘The Sound of Magic’), Joo Ji-hoon (Netflix’s ‘Emergency Declaration’), Byun Woo-seok (tvN’s ‘My Roommate is a Gumiho’), Lee Joon-hyuk (Tving’s ‘Good or Bad Dong-jae’), and Han Suk-kyu (MBC’s ‘The Most Intimate Betrayer’). The female nominees are Go Min-si (Netflix’s ‘In the Woods Alone’), Kim Tae-ri (tvN’s ‘Twenty-Five Twenty-One’), Kim Hye-yoon (tvN’s ‘My Roommate is a Gumiho’), IU (Netflix’s ‘The Sound of Magic’), and Jang Na-ra (SBS’s ‘Good Partner’), who will compete for the trophy.
For the ‘Best New Actor’ award, new rising male and female actors such as Choo Young-woo (JTBC’s ‘Mr. Queen’), Song Gun-hee (tvN’s ‘My Roommate is a Gumiho’), Jo Yoon-soo (Disney+’s ‘The King’s Affection’), Chae Won-bin (MBC’s ‘The Most Intimate Betrayer’), and Ha Young (Netflix’s ‘Emergency Declaration’) have made the lineup.
Along with dramas, K-variety shows, which are becoming a driving force in the globalization of K-content, have nominees for the variety award including Sung Si-kyung, Shin Dong-yup, Kim Won-hoon, Yoo Jae-suk, Dex, Lee Su-ji, Jang Do-yeon, Ji Ye-eun, Hae-won, and Hong Jin-kyung, showcasing the fierce competition in the variety scene.
In the film category, the nominees for Best Picture include ‘The Law of Love in the Big City’, ‘Revolver’, ‘Jangson’, ‘Jeon, Ran’, and ‘Harbin’. The nominees for Best Actor include Yoon Joo-sang (‘The Seagull in the Morning Sea’), Lee Byung-hun (‘The Match’), Lee Hee-joon (‘Handsome Guys’), Jo Jung-seok (‘Pilot’), and Hyun Bin (‘Harbin’) in the male category, while Kim Go-eun (‘The Law of Love in the Big City’), Kim Geum-soon (‘Jeong-soon’), Song Hye-kyo (‘The Black Nuns’), Jeon Do-yeon (‘Revolver’), and Jo Yeo-jeong (‘Hidden Face’) are nominated in the female category, getting closer to winning.
Notably, the ‘Gucci Impact Award’, newly established in the film category in 2023, will select its third award winner this year. The ‘Gucci Impact Award’ also adopts ‘Sailing Towards Hope’ as this year’s theme, aligning with the Baeksang Arts Awards. The ‘Gucci Impact Award’ is given to works that contribute to creating a better tomorrow by densely capturing voices regarding community imbalance and fairness.
The theater category, which was revived in 2019, will reflect on the year through three parts: ‘Baeksang Theater Award’, ‘Acting Award’, and ‘Young Theater Award’. The ‘Baeksang Theater Award’ selects candidates who have achieved the most outstanding theatrical achievements without boundaries of groups, works, or individuals.
This year, the Baeksang Arts Awards will be held under the name ‘Baeksang Arts Awards with Gucci’. Gucci is participating as a partner for the third consecutive year, and the event will be broadcast live simultaneously on JTBC, JTBC2, and JTBC4, as well as digitally on Prism, Naver TV, and Chijijik.
The Baeksang Arts Awards is a comprehensive arts award established in 1965 to promote the development of Korean popular culture and the morale of artists, awarding the production teams and performers in the TV, film, and theater categories that have aired or screened over the past year.
Ahead of the awards ceremony, the Baeksang Arts Awards organization also addressed the abnormal figures regarding the ‘Prism Popularity Award voting’. Controversy arose when a video of macro execution for the popularity award was released before the ceremony. Prism stated, “We prioritize fairness and reliability as our core values and strictly apply our operational policies. We have completed thorough technical reviews,” and added, “We recognize the concerns raised regarding macro voting more seriously and will strengthen our response system.” The ‘TikTok Popularity Award’ was changed to the ‘Prism Popularity Award’ last year.
[Ji Seung-hoon, Star Today Reporter]
