Seoul Drama Awards expands Hallyu awards

The Seoul International Drama Awards (SDA) will expand the scale of its domestic 'Hallyu' or Korean Wave segment in reflection of the growing influence of Korean entertainment content overseas.

The SDA, into its sixth year, had established the Hallyu segment for the first time last year, handing out honors in five categories including production, producer, screenwriter, actor and actress but this year, they added recognitions for second-best production and best soundtrack, SDA's organizing committee announced through a press conference on Wednesday. Also, unlike last year when the winners were picked based on a survey on five hundred foreign and domestic journalists, and foreign buyers, this year's results will be based on votes by about one million Hallyu fans around the world on Hallyu portal en.korea.com and 50 foreign buyers, making them responsible for 70 percent and 30 percent of the result, respectively.

However, for the award for best original soundtrack, 20 percent of the votes will be those cast on Korean social networking community Cyworld and 50 percent by Hallyu fans, while the award for best producer and screenwriter will be handed out based solely on votes by foreign and domestic journalists.

The SDA will maintain its method of drawing up its shortlist -- Korean dramas shown between April of last year to April this year that were exported to more than ten countries or earned over three million dollars overseas. This year's nominations include "SungKyunKwang Scandal," "Bread, Love and Dreams," "Marry Me, Mary," "Dream High," "Dong Yi - Jewel in the Crown," "Queen of Reversals," "My Princess," "King Su-ro," "Giant," "Athena," "Secret Garden," "My Girlfriend is Gumiho" and" Bad Boy" for best production.

Jang Keun-suk ("Marry Me, Mary"), Park Yuchun ("SungKyunKwan Scandal"), Song Seung-heon ("My Princess"), Hyun Bin ("Secret Garden") and Kang Ji-hwan ("Coffee House") have been nominated for best actor, Park Min-young ("SungKyunKwan Scandal"), Moon Geun-young ("Marry Me, Mary"), Kim Tae-hee ("My Princess"), Lee Yo-won ("49 Days") and Ha Ji-won ("Secret Garden") for best actress, "Found You" by JYJ ("SungKyunKwan Scandal"), "Take Care, My Bus" by Jang Keun-suk ("Marry Me, Mary), "Nothing Happened" by Jung Yeop ("49 Days"), "That Woman" by Baek Ji-young ("Secret Garden") and "That Person" by Lee Seung-chul ("Bread, Love and Dreams") for best original soundtrack.

Nominations for best producer and writer have been extended to all Korean dramas, a total of 49, excluding singles and morning dramas.

In the segment for international competition where nominees were picked from a total of 204 dramas from 37 countries, acclaims will be handed out in the categories of best, second-best and third-best production, special award, top producer, top screenwriter, top actor, top actress and most popular Asian star.

The award for most popular Asian star, to be handed out to a total of five stars each from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, will be based on a popularity vote by fans through the websites of Yahoo! Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan.

The awards ceremony will be held on August 31, the start to nine days of which will include fan meetings and open radio shows.

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