Culture ministry selects 38 jingles for policy videos

The culture ministry said it had selected 38 winning entries from its public jingle contest, with the melodies to be professionally arranged for use in government policy-promotion videos.

The ministry launched the contest to mark the first anniversary of the People's Sovereignty Government. It defines a jingle as a short sound or melody that helps listeners remember a particular brand or message.

"We will actively use the jingles with all government ministries so policy-promotion videos can feel more familiar to the public," Lee Jeong-eun, the culture ministry's digital communications director, said.

The contest drew 1,454 submissions from people in their teens through their 70s, who entered individually or in teams between June 4 and June 30. A panel of advertising-music specialists and government digital-communications experts conducted two rounds of review, assessing creativity, suitability, public appeal and completeness. It selected the 38 winners and put the top eight before the public.

Voting from Aug. 3 to 19 drew 9,923 participants. Final rankings combined expert judging, weighted at 70%, and public-vote results, weighted at 30%.

Kim Jeong-min's "A Country Where the People Are the Masters" won the grand prize for blending the traditional sounds of the gayageum, haegeum, samulnori and pansori with piano and strings. The awards carry 12.4 million won in total, including 5 million won for the grand prize, 2 million won each for two top-excellence award winners, 500,000 won each for five excellence winners and 30,000 won each for 30 encouragement-award winners.