The Baeksang Arts Awards will be held on May 8 this year.
The 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards with Gucci will be held on May 8 at COEX D Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The Italian luxury brand Gucci (Gucci) is participating as a partner for the fourth consecutive year to support the development of Korea's popular culture and arts.
This year's Baeksang Arts Awards will add a musical institutional sector. By adding the musical institutional sector to the existing three institutional sectors of broadcasting·film·theater, the Baeksang Arts Awards is expected to take another step forward as a true comprehensive arts award that encompasses all stages of popular culture and the arts. It is even more meaningful that the musical institutional sector is being established in 2026, which marks the 60th anniversary of Korean musical theater.
The theme that runs through this year's ceremony is "The stage". "The stage" is a symbolic expression that goes beyond the physical meaning of "stage" to encompass broadcast screens, film screens, and the stages of theater and musicals. The Baeksang Arts Awards' new expansion, which has transcended genres and boundaries to encompass all stages and become the No.1 comprehensive arts award, is encapsulated in the keyword "The stage."
Works eligible for judging are content provided on terrestrial·comprehensive programming channel·cable·OTT·web from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, Korean feature films released domestically during the same period, and plays·musicals performed domestically during the same period. However, works that were excluded due to overlapping with last year's candidate review period are classified as eligible for this year's judging.
The broadcasting institutional sector requires at least four episodes, and for series, only works that have aired at least one-third by the end of the review period are included as eligible. For both the broadcasting·film institutional sectors, the rookie acting award candidate criteria are three or fewer lead·supporting roles of a certain amount of screen time in works within the respective institutional sector. It is unrelated to the debut year.
The rookie director award in the film institutional sector applies to directors who debuted with a feature film during the review period. The 'Gucci Impact Award (GUCCI IMPACT AWARD),' which has established itself as a major award category in film and is producing its fourth winner this year, has the theme "The Stage of Impact" this year. It is an award given to works that illuminate various issues surrounding society and individuals, form discourse on them, and expand audience awareness through social messages.
The review period is the same for the theater·musical institutional sectors. The theater institutional sector will present the young theater award·acting award·Baeksang theater award. The musical institutional sector, introduced for the first time this year, will announce winners in three institutional sectors: best musical·creation award·acting award. The best musical award recognizes works that achieved outstanding performance over the year, the creation award selects winners (works) across musical creators as a whole. The acting award will be held as a gender-integrated category.
Before selecting candidates in the broadcasting·film institutional sectors, a preliminary survey of candidates is conducted among industry experts and workers in various fields to enhance the fairness, expertise and objectivity of the judging. A preliminary survey panel of 30 people participates for each institutional sector. During the main judging, the jury conducts a rigorous review to select candidates and winners (works) by referring to the compiled results of that survey.
Details such as the candidates and award categories by institutional sector and selection criteria for 'The 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards with Gucci' can be found on the Baeksang Arts Awards' official website and official SNS on Apr. 13. [Photo] HLL [OSEN]