Annual contest invites participants to share their first encounters with Korean culture

Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

SEOUL, July 27 (AJP) - A Korean culture-themed annual international contest began accepting entries on Monday, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Monday.

Under the theme "My First K-Culture Moment," this year's “TalkTalk Korea” contest invites foreign nationals worldwide to share how they first encountered Korean culture through videos, photographs, illustrations and written works.

Those interested can submit entries by Sept. 28 about how they first embraced Korean music, dramas or other aspects of Korean culture. With the addition of a writing category for the first time this year, the contest has expanded to four categories: video, photo book, drawing and illustration, and writing.

Participants must post their entries on social media using the hashtags "#TalkTalkKorea2026," "#TTK2026" and "#MyPOV," then complete an application on the ministry's website to finalize their submission.
 

Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The ministry will select 124 prize recipients with the top winners in each category receiving a travel voucher to Seoul worth 3 million won (about US,000), while about 40 other winners will receive Amazon gift cards worth between 0 and ,000. The entrant with the highest overall score across all categories will receive a ministerial award. The final winners will be announced on Nov. 5, with an online awards ceremony scheduled for Nov. 17.

"We hope the memories and emotions participants experience through this contest can be shared with people around the world," a ministry official said.

Now in its 13th year, the annual contest was first held in 2014 with around 7,000 participants. Last year, it received more than 76,000 entries from 108 countries, according to the ministry.