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Fiction Grand Prize
 Mun Hyung-ryul, 52, from Goryeong, Gyeongsang Province, first won a literary contest run by the Maeil Newspaper with the children's story ``Wind Is Blowing'' in 1975, when he was a high school student. He also won three more newspaper literary competitions in 1982 and 1984. Mun graduated from Yeongnam University with a bachelors degree in sociology in 1984, and a masters degree in philosophy in 1988. He officially stepped into the literary circle with ``Silmyeonggi'' (The Story of Losing Eyesight) in 1983. Mun published many novels and poems in the 1980s and early 1990s. Known as the last Romanist novelist, Mun was once a high school social studies teacher and an editorial writer at the Yeongnam Ilbo. He released ``Bicycling Over the Ocean'' in 1994. Mun stopped writing for about 10 years but came back with the book ``Yeonjeok'' in 2006.
Commendation Award Fiction
 Novelist Kim Jung-hyuk, born in 1971, Gimcheon, Gyeongsang Province, graduated from Keimyung University in Daegu with a bachelors degree in Korean Language and Literature. Kim debuted in 2000 by publishing ``Penguin News'' in the literature magazine Literature and Society. His works were nominated for the Dongin Literary Award and the Midang Literary Award. His first collection of short stories was published in 2006 under the title of his first work of fiction. Kim currently works as a guest reporter of the Korean newspaper ``Hankyoreh.''
 Novelist Hwang Jung-eun, born in 1976 in Seoul, entered the literary circle in 2005 after winning the spring literary contest sponsored by the Kyunghyang Daily. Since, she has been eyed as a promising young writer on the rise. Hwang's short story ``The Door" was included in the collection of short stories titled, ``Young Fiction 2007" and her story ``Mother and Son" was selected as a recommended work of distinction for the Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award in 2007.
Poetry Grand Prize
 Ko Jae-jong, born in 1957 in Damyang county, South Jeolla Province, debuted as a poet with ``Twelve Families Outside the Village'' in 1984. He then received the Shin Tong-yop Fund for Writers with a collection of poems, including ``Swift Love'' (1995). He also has been awarded the Poem and Poetics Award for Young Poets in 1997 and the So-wol Poem and Prose Award in 2002 for ``Camellia Road of Baeknyeongsa Temple.'' He has published many collections of poems, including ``Dawn Field, then, a Bush Warbler Cried,'' and ``A Lamp of Man.'' Based in a farming town, Ko is known as a poet who well represents the life of Koreans from rural communities in his unique voice. He has seven poetry books under his belt. |
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