15th
Seoul International Drama Awards to take place without an audience on September
10
- The awards ceremony to be held without an audience via live streaming amid
the COVID-19 outbreak
- Social distancing precautions will be made for additional
events for audiences’ to enjoy nominees and OSTs
- 212 entries from 41 countries in Asia, Europe, the
Middle East, etc. and ‘short-form contents’ nomination is newly-organized
Seoul, South Korea (July 30,
2020) –
Seoul International Drama Awards 2020 (SDA), the only international drama
festival in South Korea, will be held on September 10 without an audience.
The Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee (Chairman
Jeong-Hoon Park) announced that the 15th Seoul International Drama Awards will
take place on September 10 at MBC Media Center Public Hall. The awards ceremony
will be held via live streaming, and MBC's recorded broadcast will be offered
later. This event will not host a live audience to prevent the spread of
COVID-19. Only domestic candidates and presenters will be invited in
consideration of the strict entry restrictions around the world.
In addition to the awards ceremony, supplementary events will
also be arranged so that audiences can enjoy O.S.T and other entries. The
organizing committee explained that it is planning a non-face-to-face event to
ensure the safety of participants, which aims to get COVID-19 off of the mind
of the Korean audience.
SDA’s award categories include international
competition, international invitation, and outstanding Korean dramas. Despite
the impact of COVID-19 outbreak, 212 dramas from 41 countries around the world were
submitted for this year’s ceremony, solidifying SDA’s position as an
international drama awards ceremony. Among the continents that participated in
the competition, Asia was the leader, submitting 108 dramas. Competition
between dramas representing various cultural areas is expected, with Europe
submitting 75 dramas while America, Oceania and the Middle East also submitted
their own array of dramas.
In particular, short-form (a
drama consisting of episodes that are less than 30 minutes) was newly added for
this year’s submission category. For SDA 2020, a total of 37 short-form dramas were
submitted, and competition between the new trendy web dramas is drawing
attention. In addition, a significant number of dramas with various leading female
characters highlighting women empowerment were submitted.
“In this year’s Seoul
International Drama Awards, we put our staff and audiences’ safety first. We
hope that people in the drama industry and drama fans will be able to enjoy the
SDA 2020 safely” said an official from the Seoul Drama Awards Organizing
Committee. “We also hope that SDA could become an outlet for them to
communicate with each other in a time when face-to-face interaction is
infeasible” the official added.
The Seoul International Drama Awards is an international
award ceremony which has been hosted by the Korean Broadcasters Association and
the Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee since 2006 to drive global cultural
exchanges and growth through dramas. Every year, TV dramas from around the
world are selected and awarded for their popularity and outstanding work. The
list of nominees will be announced next month. The Seoul Drama Awards 2020
award ceremony will be held at the MBC Media Center Public Hall on September 10
and will be broadcasted via live streaming. The official live streaming platform
and the schedule for the broadcast will be announced later.
For more information on the 15th Seoul Drama Awards, visit
the Seoul Drama Awards website.