We present the honor of awards to the shining stars of K-pop who gave us dreams and joy throughout the year.

The K-pop awards ceremony, ‘The 1st D Awards with Upick’, hosted by Sports Donga and organized by ‘Upick’ and WSM, will be held on February 22, 2025 at the Hwajeong Gymnasium of Korea University in Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.

The ‘D Awards’ was established to evaluate the background of K-pop being loved by people all over the world for being faithful to giving ‘Dreams’ and ‘Delights’, and to further promote and encourage this.

The ‘D Awards’ will present awards in two categories. The ‘D Awards Delights’, the main award, is given to K-pop artists who have been active throughout the year, and the ‘D Awards Dreamers’, are given to excellent new artists who will lead K-content in the future.

The ‘Years’ title that shone in K-pop in 2024, is divided into awards for this year‘s artist, album, song, performance, and Globalist. In addition, the ‘D Awards Iconic’, which meaningfully sheds light on and cheers on members who have become the foundation of global K-pop, including artists, producers, and planners who encompass the past, present, and future of K-pop, are selected.

The ‘D Awards, which is making its first step in Korea, has global fandom platform upick as its naming sponsor. The ‘D Awards Fanpick’, one of the major award categories and awarded with 100% fan participation, will be hosted by upick. Details and schedule regarding the official voting will be announced later.

The ‘D Awards’’s judging criteria will include a comprehensive selection of winners based on online voting, music and album sales, and judging by the judging panel.

The performance lineup that will grace the awards ceremony will be sequentially announced in three stages starting from the end of this month, and the awards ceremony host (MC) and major award presenters will be announced in mid-January next year. The nominees for each ‘D Awards category will be available on the official website and SNS, which are scheduled to be released in early January.


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com