Culture ministry names 124 winners in 13th Talk Talk Korea contest

The culture ministry named 124 winning works from the 13th edition of its global Talk Talk Korea contest on Monday, an event that drew 55,250 entries from 75 countries under the theme "My First K-Culture Story."

The competition, run across four categories — video, photo book, drawing and writing — asks foreigners to name their first encounter with Korean culture.

Hosana Akaya Simau of Indonesia took the grand award in the video category for "From Curiosity to a Dream," a film tracing how curiosity about K-pop grew into an ambition to become a movie director. It was the unanimous choice of the judging panel.

Iranian artist Niloufar Kashani topped the photo book category with "Korea Found Me First," a collage of her path from a first brush with Korean culture in 2013 through dramas, music, language and food.

The ministry added a writing category this year and awarded first place to Ana Moya of Venezuela for "Never Too Late to Discover Korea," which focuses on how older people experience Korean culture.

"The winning works contain the affection people around the world feel for Korean culture and the experience of finding their own stories within it," a culture ministry policy official said. "Through exhibitions at home and abroad, we hope more people will connect with the stories in these works and share their experiences through Korean culture."

The winning entries go on public view Monday through the contest's official website and social media channels. An exhibition will run from Nov. 17 to 22 at the Pocket Lounge on the second floor of HiKR Ground in Jung-gu, Seoul.

A traveling version of the show will visit three overseas Korean cultural centers, in Belgium, Austria and Spain, from November 2026 to March 2027.