Public vote opens for short-form video contest on rural Korea's future

An online public vote has opened to select the best short-form videos depicting the future of rural Korea, with 15 finalists competing for audience support.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Monday it had selected 15 finalists for the "Rural Space Planning Short-Form Video Contest," co-hosted with the Korean Society of Rural Planning and the Korea Rural Community Corporation, and that public online voting would run from Monday through Aug. 21.

The contest was designed to raise public awareness of rural space planning and capture the changing face of the countryside through the eyes of ordinary people. Students and members of the general public submitted entries from May 18 through July 24, and a preliminary panel of experts screened the submissions for thematic relevance, creativity and overall quality before selecting 15 finalists.

Rural space planning is a policy regime that replaces the piecemeal, fragmented development approach long characteristic of the countryside with a comprehensive, systematic framework aimed at curbing unplanned sprawl and rural depopulation. Under the system, local governments draw up medium- and long-term development plans, and the central government provides integrated support through rural cooperation agreements.

Anyone can take part in the public vote. Visitors to the "Sotong24" website can watch all 15 finalists under the public review menu in the policy participation section and select their three favorites. Fifty participants chosen by lottery will receive mobile gift vouchers.

The ministry will combine expert panel scores with the public vote results to select 10 final winners in September. The grand prize winner will receive the agriculture minister's citation and 3 million won ($2,110), while two excellence awards carry 2 million won each, three merit awards 1 million won each, and four encouragement awards 500,000 won each. The total purse is 12 million won.

The winning entries will be promoted through the official YouTube channels and SNS accounts of the ministry, the Korea Rural Community Corporation and the Korean Society of Rural Planning.

Jeon Han-yeong, director general of the ministry's Rural Policy Bureau, said the contest had offered a glimpse of the future that rural space planning could create. "Simply casting your vote online is itself a show of support for rural change, so we hope many people will take part," he said.