South Gyeongsang Province holds inaugural global youth content competition

South Gyeongsang Province has launched an effort to identify young talent to lead future content industries, including AI, drones and webtoons.

The province held the 2026 Global Youth Content Competition at the Masan Robot Land Convention Center on Saturday, it announced Monday.

Held for the first time this year, the competition had students create original works and showcase their skills using technologies across content fields — AI, drones, webtoons, games and video. The event also marked the debut of a government-industry-academia cooperation model, with local universities and content companies joining the competition's operations to identify and nurture young talent.

The opening ceremony drew about 700 attendees, including Gov. Park Wan-su, Provincial Assembly Speaker Park Jun, Education Superintendent Kwon Sun-gi, university presidents and vice presidents from participating institutions, and about 350 elementary, middle and high school students from across the province, along with parents and industry representatives.

The competition was co-hosted by South Gyeongsang Province and Changwon and organized by the Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Promotion Agency. Five provincial universities — Changwon National University, Kyungnam University, Youngsan University, Masan University and Changwon Moonsung University — along with content industry companies also took part.

The competition was divided into five categories: the physical AI challenge, the drone content league, AI-based game development, webtoon drawing and AI video production.

Participants used AI programs and production tools provided on-site to create games and videos, and took on challenges in robot-integrated tasks and drone content production. Top performers in each category received awards from the provincial governor, the provincial education superintendent and university presidents.

"The content industry is a vital sector that South Gyeongsang Province must nurture as a future strategic industry," Gov. Park said. "We will actively explore ways to develop this competition into an international event and establish an investment foundation, including the creation of a dedicated content fund."

The province plans to use the competition as a springboard to expand its search for young content talent and strengthen its education and creative support framework in partnership with local universities and companies.