The first contest drew 108 teams, with entries accumulating 3.5 million cumulative views.
Naju city is holding a second short-form video contest with a total purse of 16 million won ($12,000), building on the strong participation and online promotional results of its earlier "Visit Naju Year" contest to promote the 2026 Naju Yeongsan River Festival.
The city announced Thursday it is accepting entries for the "2026 Naju Yeongsan River Festival Promotional Short-Form and Creator Contest," which runs through Oct. 21 and invites participants to capture the festival's appeal in video form before and after the event.
Earlier this year, the city held the "2026 Visit Naju Year Promotional Short-Form and Creator Contest," which drew 108 teams and generated about 3.5 million cumulative views, drawing strong public interest.
The second contest was organized to carry that momentum into promotion of the 2026 Naju Yeongsan River Festival, which runs Oct. 7–11, and is divided into two categories: festival promotional videos and festival review videos.
The promotional video category invites creators to freely express the festival's appeal — its key programs, sights and activities — from before the event through the duration of the festival.
The review video category calls for on-the-ground content captured by participants who attend the festival in person, documenting the atmosphere, programs and experiences from their own perspective.
Videos may be produced in any format or genre — including entertainment, parody, challenge, documentary, animation and music video — and any South Korean citizen may enter individually or as a team.
The total purse is 16 million won. In the promotional video category, seven works will be selected, including a grand prize of 4 million won. In the review video category, 14 works will be chosen, with a grand prize of 3 million won and awards down to honorable mention.
Works that naturally incorporate "Naju 1 Night 2 Gains" — the city's overnight tourism support policy — will receive bonus points during judging, as the city aims to raise awareness of its overnight tourism initiative alongside the festival.
Prospective participants should check the detailed guidelines on the Naju city website, then post a video featuring the "2026 Visit Naju Year" logo on their own SNS accounts with the required hashtags and submit their entry through Naver Forms.
Through the contest, the city plans to build anticipation before the festival through diverse creator perspectives, then amplify on-site review content during and after the event to sustain the festival's online promotional impact.
"The first contest confirmed the strong promotional power and potential of short-form content, with 108 teams participating and entries accumulating 3.5 million views," a city official said. "We hope the wide range of the Yeongsan River Festival's appeal — from the excitement building before the event to vivid firsthand reviews from the scene — will spread widely online through this contest, and we encourage many people to take part."
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