Are paper magazines going white elephants? Korea Magazine Association sees their value on Magazine Day

▲ Korea Magazine Association / President Jung Gwang-young

Marking 55th Magazine Day, the Korea Magazine Association held a ceremony at the Federation of Korean Industries Hall in Yeouido, Seoul, on November 2. On the day, the holding body awarded those who have made contributions to development of the magazine industry in South Korea. Magazine Day commemorates the day on which the nation's first modern magazine Sonyeon published on November 1, 1908. 

Due to the pandemic, the event was limited to 50 attendees of board members of the association and the 13 winners of the awards in cultural medal, presidential citation, prime minister's citation and Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister's citation as well as the 8 winners of the Korea Magazine Prize in the categories of contribution, management, editing, reporting, photographing, operation, advertizement and appreciation plaque. Alongside the awards, the association also held the 3rd Magazine Scholarship Award on the day. 

"On the occasion of Magazine Day, it is important for us to share values of magazine and its future direction. Let us have time to look back the history of magazine and to look forward the need for paper magazine in this time of digitalizing media. That's why we have gathered here today" said the association president Jung Gwang-young. 

Park Han-sik, who received the cultural medal, is the one who published Korea's first electronic parts magazine EPNC on January 1985 henceforth he has published further 13 kinds of magazine generating 11.2 million USD worth contents export. He also has served the vice president of the Korea Magazine Association and made contributions to the 2002 FIPP Asia Pacific Seoul. 

Kim Hak-yong, who received the appreciation plaque, served the 18th, 19th and 20th lawmaker and is the president of the Future Innovation Forum. He made contributions to securing budgets for the association's educational projects. 

As a spinoff event, the association held the 13th National Magazine Reading Contest. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Seoul Metropolitan City, National Library of Korea, National Assembly Library, and Korea Press Foundation, the event collected 422 works of essays, poems, cartoons and UCC which went through second step screening towards finalists. 

Novelist Kim Hong-shin, the head judge said that 22 out of 422 applicants were chosen with 11 from youth and 11 from adults and the quality of the works had been improved much than previous years. 

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister's prize went to Kim Song-i who wrote 'A Present of Father In Law' and the Korea Magazine Association president's prize to Lee Si-un who wrote 'Kukaknuri Made My Dream Spread Wide'.