South Korea launches third Yeosu-Suncheon Peace Literature Award contest

Jeonnam Province is calling for entries for the third Yeosu-Suncheon 10.19 Peace Literature Award, seeking to commemorate the historical incident through contemporary literary works. The Jeonnam Cultural Foundation is organizing the contest, which spans three categories: fiction, poetry, and children's literature.

Participation is open to all, with no restrictions on residency, age, or prior writing experience. Applicants for the fiction category must submit a novella or short story between 80 and 200 pages (200-character manuscript pages). Poetry submissions require at least five poems, while children's literature entries can be between five and ten poems or a children's story of approximately 30 pages.

Submissions must arrive by 6 p.m. on August 20 and be sent as HWP files to the Jeonnam Cultural Foundation's email. The award offers significant cash prizes: 20 million won for the top fiction prize, 10 million won for the top poetry prize, and 10 million won for the top children's literature prize, with multiple 우수상 (excellence awards) also available. Winning entries will be published in a collection.

Bae Seong-jin, head of the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident Support Team at Jeonnam Province, stated that the award aims to "revive the memory of the Yeosu-Suncheon 10.19 incident through today's language and share the values of peace and human rights with future generations." He encouraged broad participation from writers nationwide and residents of the province.

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The Yeosu Peace Literature Award is a project to revive the memory of the Yeosu-Suncheon 10.19 incident through today's language and share the values of peace and human rights with future generations.