(Seoul = Yonhap News) Before entering the main trial, we talked about the plaintiffs we met in the preliminary trial. Most judges found works that seemed to have used AI during the preliminary review process. The sentences were smooth but patterned, so there were quite a few works that looked like they had been done by AI no matter how you look at them. There were works that jumped on the bandwagon, and there were also works that seemed to have turned the screenplay into a novel. There have been speculations that there have been many manuscripts with good dialogue but poor psychological description, or, conversely, with awkward dialogue but good ability to create settings and stories, so novel writers turn into screenplays with the help of AI and submit them to movie contests, or conversely, there are more cases of writing screenplays and then turning them into novels. Due to the influence of AI, the number of works with smooth sentences has increased, and the number of works that are average or above average has increased, but this does not mean that the number of good works has increased. It was difficult to find a work that felt the spirit of challenge and enthusiasm of a rookie, even if it was a bit rough. Nevertheless, the applicants' passion for literature remained, and they were able to encounter works that contained new possibilities.
The four works uploaded to the original review are ‘The Glass Houseman’, ‘Blue Snow Dream’, ‘Spartito’, and ‘Kim K Jeon’.
'The Glass House Man' is a novel that talks about death through a funeral director, and the process of becoming a funeral director is vivid in detail, making it seem like it is the author's experience. However, there were scenes that were unrealistic and lacked probability, and above all, the sentences about death were overly conventional. In the end, it was just a collection of various stories to tell a story about death, and it was not complete enough to be called a novel.
'Blue Snow Dream' was discussed again last year as a work that was in the final review, but the issues mentioned last year still remained unresolved. The characters were alive and the sentences were smooth, but it was still unclear what it was trying to say or what problem it was dealing with, so I couldn't shake the impression that the story was floating in the air. I hope you show passion for writing new works rather than continuing to revise the same works.
The works mainly discussed in the main review were ‘Spartito’ and ‘Kim K Jeon’.
'Spartito' is a work that stands out for its ability to create a story, and it felt like a lot of effort was put into researching the data. I liked that it used music as a background during the Japanese colonial period, and the sentences were stable. It was so interesting that there was talk of it being made into a movie or drama. However, it was pointed out that compared to the power to drive the story, it lacked novelistic imagery and that the characters and development method were typical.
‘Kim K Jeongjeon’ was a novel I had never seen before. It had a strong personality, dealt with a modern topic, and was so captivating that I forgot that I was reviewing it and was immersed in it. I was able to encounter some intelligent sentences that I wanted to underline. Although the narrative power is a little weak, it was an attractive novel that can be read with enough enjoyment once you concentrate.
Above all, the jury noted that this novel addresses one of the greatest sufferings of our time. 'Kim K Blackout' talks about the pain of our times created by social media, such as the problem of a withering soul tied to reputation, the problem of mutual surveillance where we watch each other without being able to move, and the problem of not being able to live as oneself due to endless exposure to the surveillance of others. The judges expected that the author would continue to write good works and readily agreed to select 'Kim K Jeon', which deals with contemporary issues in his own voice, as the winning work. Congratulations on being elected.
▲ 2026 Surim Literary Award Jury = Lee Seung-woo (novelist, head of the judging panel), Kim Yang-ho (novelist), Jang Eun-soo (literary critic), Park Hye-jin (literary critic), Kim Hye-na (novelist), Kim Eui-kyung (novelist, lead review writer)
