With Jang Na-ra winning the SBS ‘Drama Grand Prize’, her first win in 23 years since her debut, attention is also focused on the upcoming MBC and KBS Drama Awards winners.

This is because of curiosity about which star captured the hearts of viewers this year at the Drama Awards, one of the annual events held by each broadcasting station, and whether the grand prize winner will be acceptable to viewers.

In particular, as each broadcasting station‘s award ceremonies have been criticized for repeating old practices such as ‘duplicate awards’, ‘joint awards’, and ‘attendance awards’, there are concerns that this year’s awards ceremonies will end up being just a ‘family party’.

○No change to the Grand Prize... Jang Na-ra ‘Sobs’
Jang Na-ra won the grand prize at the ‘2024 SBS Drama Awards’, which continued until dawn on the 22nd.

This is thanks to the drama ‘Good Partner’, which aired in September, which achieved both viewership ratings (its highest ever of 17.7%) and became a hot topic. In the drama, she realistically portrayed a divorce lawyer with 17 years of experience, and was mentioned as a candidate for the grand prize right after the end.

After receiving the grand prize that day, Jang Na-ra said, “I feel like I‘ve experienced all the amazing things in my life at SBS. I’ve met the ‘Good Partners’ and touched the grand prize trophy. It‘s such a miracle, I can’t believe it and I don‘t know what to say, but I’m so grateful,“ she said, sobbing.

Jang Na-ra starred in SBS‘s ‘The Success Story of Roaring Currents’, ‘My Love Patjwi’, ‘The Beauty Inside’, ‘The Last Empress’, and ‘VIP’, all of which were box office hits.

Except for Jang Na-ra’s Daesang, the awards were given out in the remaining categories as usual this year. The Best Acting Award and Excellence Acting Award were divided into ‘Genre/Action’, ‘Season’, ‘Mini-Series Human/Fantasy’, and were evenly distributed to the actors in attendance. In addition, the Supporting Actor Award and Newcomer Award were shared by 10 and 4 people, respectively.

○MBC ‘Lee Ha-nui or Han Suk-kyu’ … KBS ‘?’
Lee Ha-nui and Han Suk-kyu have emerged as strong candidates for the grand prize at the MBC Drama Awards to be held on the 30th.

Lee Ha-nui announced a successful start to the year with ‘Flowers that Bloom at Night’, which ended in February, recording her highest viewership rating of 18.4%, and later won the grand prize at the Korea Drama Festival held in October.

Lee Ha-nui returned to the drama right after giving birth and received favorable reviews for her comedic acting that spared no effort.

Han Suk-kyu‘s grand prize is also being predicted.

He made ‘A Traitor Who Is So Intimate’, which ended in November, a box office hit. He played the role of a profiler who suspects his daughter of being a murderer, and garnered attention for appearing in an MBC drama that was like his ‘home’ for the first time in 29 years. The drama recorded a viewership rating of 9% thanks to Han Suk-kyu’s outstanding acting.

KBS, which opens on the 31st, is in a gloomy state. Some predict that there will be an award winner at the level of the service award since there were no notable dramas throughout the year.

It failed miserably in both viewership ratings and buzz, and barely maintained a viewership rating of 20% even in weekend dramas, which were called ”viewership turf.“

Among them, Im Soo-hyang, who played two roles in the weekend drama ”Beauty and Innocent Man,“ and Lee Soon-jae, the lead actor of ”Bullshit,“ are being mentioned.


Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com