Seoul International Drama Awards 2026: 30 Works and 34 Individuals Advance to Final Round Among 352 Entries from 46 Countries

The Seoul International Drama Awards Organizing Committee announced the finalists for the 2026 international competition categories on the 27th. This year, a record-breaking 352 entries were submitted from 46 countries and regions, and following judging by a global jury, 30 works for the Best Drama award and 34 individuals (or teams) for the individual awards have advanced to the final round.

The Best Drama category will compete across four divisions: 12 mini-series, 6 one-act dramas, 7 feature-length dramas, and 5 short-form dramas. In the mini-series division, four Korean works were named, including ‘Everyone Is Fighting Against Their Own Worthlessness’ starring Koo Kyo Hwan and Go Youn Jung, ‘My Royal Nemesis’ starring Lim Ji-yeon and Heo Nam-jun, ‘The Dream Life of Mr. Kim’ starring Ryu Seung Ryong, and ‘You and Everything Else’ starring Kim Go-eun and Park Ji-hyun. From overseas, competing works include ‘A Better Man’, ‘Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood Season 2’, ‘Nepo Baby’, and ‘Slow Hiss' Season 5, which have already built award histories at events such as Canneseries and the Munich International Film Festival. In particular, ‘Beef Season 2’ directed by Lee Sung Jin, starring Youn Yuh-jung, Song Kang-ho, Oscar Isaac, and Carey Mulligan, and the new work by Vince Gilligan, ‘Pluribus’, continued their international buzz by being nominated for 16 and 18 categories respectively at this year's Emmy Awards.

In the one-act drama division, Togo's first submission, ‘Mikoko’, drew attention by advancing to the final round for the first time. Taiwan's ‘No One Home’ and ‘The Carry On’ dealt with themes of family and care, while true-story-based works also joined the competition, such as ‘Dirty Business’ which addressed water pollution in the UK, ‘Disclosure’ based on an unsolved case in Germany, and ‘Goolagong’ which depicts the life of an indigenous Australian tennis player.

In the feature-length division, ‘Our Golden Days’, starring Jung Il-woo and Jung In Sun and reuniting director Kim Hyung-suk and writer So Hyun-kyung, was named the sole Korean entry. It will compete alongside Taiwan's ‘If I Had Never Seen the Sun’, Colombia's ‘Defying Destiny’ and ‘The Guest’, China's ‘Her Way of Surviving’, the Turkish original ‘Envy’, and Greece's ‘The Child’. In the short-form division, which was revived after five years, director Lee Byeong-heon's ‘My Kid's Dad Is My Male Friend’ and China's ‘Hidden Identity: Sky-High Tips’ were nominated, following their popularity on various national platforms.

In the individual awards category, domestic and international creators and actors are evenly distributed. For Best Director, several directors with international award histories, such as Lee Sung Jin and Vince Gilligan, were named. For Best Writer, Park Hae-young and Lee Byeong-heon, along with Vince Gilligan and Thomas Seeberg Torjussen, were nominated for both directing and writing. For Best Actor, Kim Seon-ho, Koo Kyo Hwan, Ryu Seung Ryong, and Jung Il-woo will compete against Gary Oldman and Charles Melton, while for Best Actress, Kim Go-eun, Jung In Sun, Go Youn Jung, Carey Mulligan, Rhea Seehorn, and Wu Yilong were selected as nominees.

The fact that domestic creators and actors are evenly nominated in various categories such as mini-series and acting awards is interpreted as a sign that the quality of Korean drama content is being steadily recognized on the international stage. However, since the final winners must be announced separately, some view it as too early to conclude that advancing to the final round itself is the ultimate achievement.

The final winners of the Seoul International Drama Awards 2026 will be announced in September, and the awards ceremony will be held on October 8 at the KBS Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. Prior to this, a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of Korean dramas will take place on October 6, and from the 9th to the 10th, citizen participation events such as drama talk concerts and OST concerts will continue around Banpo Hangang Park and Songpa Naru Park.

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