Open to South Korean youth aged 9 to 18, individually or in teams, from Wednesday through July 19; finalists will be featured in a special exhibition at Korea International Water Week 2026 in September
South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy announced Wednesday it will hold a youth short-film contest centered on water, energy and artificial intelligence.
The contest is being organized ahead of Korea International Water Week 2026, scheduled for Sept. 9–11 at EXCO in Buk-gu, Daegu, and is designed to draw young people into the conversation about the country's water future. It is co-hosted by the ministry, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Environment Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, with the Korea Water Forum serving as the organizing body.
Held under the theme "Water, Energy and AI: Protecting Our Future," the contest invites young people growing up in an era of climate crisis and rapid AI development to freely express and share their ideas on the connections among water, energy and technology.
Submissions are accepted from Wednesday through July 19. Any South Korean youth between the ages of 9 and 18 may enter individually or as a team of up to four.
Participants must post a short video — between 30 and 60 seconds — related to the contest theme on their personal social media account and then submit the link by email.
Videos produced with the help of AI tools are permitted, provided they do not infringe on the copyrights of others.
Full details on submission guidelines and rules are available on the Korea International Water Week website, and all entries, inquiries and responses are handled by email.
Judging will take place in two rounds — a preliminary and a final — with entries evaluated on four criteria: relevance to the theme (30 points), creativity (30 points), shareability (30 points) and aesthetic quality (10 points).
From the 20 finalists selected after the preliminary round, judges will choose one grand prize winner and four excellence award recipients. One popularity award and 14 honorable mentions will be determined by on-site voting at Korea International Water Week 2026. All winners will receive a ministerial citation from the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy along with prize money.
All 20 finalist videos will be shown in a special exhibition at EXCO during Korea International Water Week 2026, where attendees can watch the entries and cast their votes in person.
Kim Ho-eun, the ministry's director general for water use policy, said young people's creative perspectives "will be a precious starting point for illuminating the future of water." He added that he hoped the contest, tied to Korea International Water Week, would give more citizens a chance to appreciate the value of water and the importance of the future water industry.
thlee@heraldcorp.com
