2026 World Webtoon Awards Opens Reader Nominations With Cash Prizes
The move to reader-driven nominations and prize money signals an effort to broaden global engagement and formalize the webtoon industry's awards structure.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime News Network.
The 2026 World Webtoon Awards, organized by Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and KOCCA, opened reader nominations from June 15 to July 24. The awards shift to a nomination-only system, introduce cash prizes for the first time, and add a category for international works. The ceremony is set for December 2 in Seoul.
Now in its third year, the World Webtoon Awards was launched in 2024 to elevate Korea's position in the global webtoon industry. Previous grand prize winners include Solo Leveling and Mirae's Antique Shop. This year, the selection process will narrow the top 100 reader-nominated titles to 20 finalists, then combine judge scores and public voting to pick 10 main award winners. Each of those winners will receive 10 million won (about US$7,500) and a trophy, with additional prizes of 5 million won for the grand prize and 3 million won for the jury award.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network News 2026 World Webtoon Awards Opens Reader Nominations