The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism building. [Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism building. [Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

Melodies composed by ordinary citizens are set to become the official jingles of South Korea's People's Sovereignty Government.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has selected 38 winning entries from the "Melody of the People: Jingle Contest," held to mark the first anniversary of the People's Sovereignty Government.

A jingle is a short musical piece or sound designed to represent a particular brand or message in a way that listeners can easily remember and recall.

The contest ran from June 4 to June 30, drawing 1,454 submissions from participants ranging in age from their teens to their 70s. Winners were chosen through a combination of expert judging and a public vote.

The top eight entries from the expert panel advanced to a public vote in which 9,923 people participated. Final rankings combined expert scores, weighted at 70 percent, with public vote results at 30 percent, yielding one grand prize winner, two excellence award winners and five merit award winners.

The grand prize went to "A Nation Where the People Are Masters," composed by Kim Jeong-min. The work was praised for blending traditional Korean musical elements — gayageum, haegeum, samulnori and pansori — with piano and string instruments to strong overall effect.

The excellence awards went to Jeong Mun-gyu for "Woori Garak of Abundance" and Ha I-jeong for "Harmony."

The five merit awards went to Lee Dong-woo for "Daehan Jingle," Kim Min-gi for "Soul," Kim Eun-ho for "Everyone," Chae Seon-mi for "People's Whistle" and Lee Hyeon-dong for "Resonance of Hope."

Prize money totaling 12.4 million won ($8,900) will be awarded: 5 million won for the grand prize, 2 million won each for the excellence awards, 500,000 won each for the merit awards, and 30,000 won each for the 30 encouragement award recipients.

Lee Jeong-eun, digital communications officer at the ministry's public communications office, said the ministry would "actively use jingles together with all government ministries so that policy promotional videos can reach the public in a more approachable way."


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