‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards’ Zico and Karina are expected to compete for the prestigious Rookie of the Year Award.

The ‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards’ will be broadcast live on KBS2 on the afternoon of the 21st. The ‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards’, where singer and actor Lee Joon, multi-entertainer Lee Chan-won, and rapper Lee Young-ji will work together as MCs, is expected to be a festival for viewers and entertainers who have shined in KBS entertainment this year.

In particular, it is noteworthy that the ‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards’ has completed the ‘generation-integrated awards ceremony’, where all entertainers transcended gender, age, and generation to become one. The perfect harmony of the old and the new has been achieved, with the legendary entertainment show ‘2 Days & 1 Night’ representing South Korea for 17 years as well as the new web entertainment shows ‘Nopogi’ and ‘Limousine Service’. In particular, everyone from 37-month-old Eunwoo from ‘The Return of Superman’ to 71-year-old Park Young-gyu, who became a hot topic by joining ‘Men Doing Housework Season 2’, will be joining the stage together, heralding a bountiful feast for all generations.

In addition, the Rookie of the Year category is drawing the most attention at the ‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards. In particular, Na Hyun-young from ‘Gag Concert’, Zico from ‘The Seasons’, Moon Sang-min from ‘Music Bank’, and Karina from ‘Synchro You’ have been nominated for the ‘Show-Variety Category Rookie Award and will compete for the Rookie Award. Among them, attention is focused on whether Zico, who is the fifth MC of ‘The Seasons’ after Park Jae-beom, Choi Jung-hoon, Akdong Musician, and Lee Hyo-ri, and Karina, who showed off a high mystery success rate and unexpected entertainment sense as a member of the ‘Synchro You’ detective team, will win. Everyone is curious to see who will win the Rookie of the Year award in the Show Variety category, as the program has expanded its spectrum of activities beyond music to entertainment.

Another point worth noting is which team will receive the ‘Best Program Award Chosen by Viewers’, which is comparable to the Daesang and is ranked as the most desired award for all entertainment programs. It is even more special in that the winner is selected directly through voting by viewers. In particular, ’Immortal Songs’ is a strong candidate, having won it consecutively in 2022 and 2023, and ‘2 Days & 1 Night Season 4’ in 2020 and 2021. In this way, expectations are rising for the performances of ‘Synchro You’ and ‘The Boss‘s Ears Are Donkey Ears’, which have suddenly risen in popularity among long-running programs such as ‘Immortal Songs’ and ‘2 Days & 1 Night Season 4’.

The candidates for the grand prize foreshadow a fierce competition between traditional powerhouses and emerging powerhouses. Attention is focused on the showdown between Yoo Jae-seok, who is the MC of ‘Synchro You’, KBS’s comeback program after 3 years, Jeon Hyun-moo, who is the MC of ‘The Boss‘s Ears Are Donkey Ears’ and participated in the ‘2024 Paris Olympics’ as a KBS commentator and was in charge of the women’s weightlifting event, Kim Jong-min, the veteran of ‘2 Days & 1 Night Season 4’ who has been in charge of KBS‘s Sundays for 17 years, Ryu Soo-young of ‘Convenience Store Restaurant’ armed with fresh charm, and Lee Chan-won, who has appeared in the most KBS programs this year, including ‘Immortal Songs’, and has emerged as the ‘Son of KBS’.

The ‘2024 KBS Entertainment Awards’, which is receiving keen attention for the Grand Prize, the Best Program Award chosen by viewers, and even the Rookie of the Year Award, will be broadcast live today (21st) at 9:20 PM.

Choi Yoon-na Donga.com reporter yyynnn@donga.com