Results of the First Round of Reader Voting for the 2026 1st Kim Hak-cheol Literary Award Grand Prize and Information on the Final Round of Voting

Since no entry received a majority of the votes in the first round, a runoff vote will be held between the two entries with the highest number of votes. With both works from the 2026 First Kim Hak-cheol Literary Award Anthology advancing to the runoff, interest and excitement have reached new heights. It is becoming even more intriguing and exciting to see which work will ultimately receive the honor of the Grand Prize at the 1st Kim Hak-cheol Literary Award in 2026.

1. Information Regarding the Final Round of Voting To protect the reputation of the authors nominated for the Grand Prize and ensure the fairness of the voting process, we will not publicly disclose the details of the first and second rounds of voting, the vote counts, or the works selected for the final round. The scope of disclosure regarding the final winning work and the voting results will be announced at the awards ceremony.

We ask that all voters refrain from making statements that encourage support for specific works or authors to prevent any controversy regarding fairness. Please take another careful look at the two works featured in the 2026 1st Kim Hak-cheol Literary Award Anthology and cast your valuable vote for the one work you support as the Grand Prize winner.

2. Voting Period · September 11, 2026 (Fri) 00:00 – September 18, 2026 (Fri) 23:59

3. Voting Procedure · Same as the first round of voting.

• Bang Hyun-seok, Principal of the School of the History of the Anti-Japanese Armed Struggle
• Lee Chun-gil and Lee Si-eun, Co-Chairs of the Kim Hak-cheol Literary Award Support Group
• Asia Publishing House