Nominees Announced for 20th Seoul International Drama Awards 2025

Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cate Blanchett, Minha Kim and Owen Cooper Among the Nominees — From Rising Talents to Global Masters

-Netflix <Adolescence>·AppleTV+ <Pachinko S2> Lead with Four Nominations Each-

  To mark its 20th anniversary, Seoul International Drama Awards has unveiled the finalists for this year’s International Competition Category.

  The Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee (Chairman Mun-shin Bang) announced on August 6 that 24 titles and 32 individuals have been nominated in the program and individual categories, respectively, following evaluations of 276 entries from 50 countries and regions by a global panel of judges.

▣ Individual Awards: 32 globally recognized directors, writers, and actors

￭ Best Director: From Masters To Rising Stars

Renowned directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda from <Asura>, Bille August from <The Count of Montecristo>, Won-suk Kim from <When Life Gives You Tangerines> and Philip Barantini from <Adolescence> are competing for the top honor. Emerging director Jin-ah Lee from <To My Lonely Sister> also joins the race, drawing attention as a rising talent.

￭ Best Screenwriter: Top Writers Battle for Storytelling Supremacy

Many nominees include writers recognized at major international awards such as Emmys, including Dan Erickson from <Severance S2>, Soo Hugh from <Pachinko S2>, Sang-choon Lim from <When Life Gives You Tangerines> and Stephen Graham, winner of the Seoul International Drama Awards 2022, who is nominated for <Adolescence>. Their entries have attracted keen attention.

￭ Best Actor & Actress: Star-Studded Lineup from Cate Blanchett to Emmy’s Youngest Nominee Owen Cooper

In the Best Actress category, Cate Blanchett—known for <The Lord of the Rings>, <Thor: Ragnarok> and who made a surprise appearance in <Squid Game S3>—stands out, capturing the attention of fans in Korea and worldwide. Korean actresses such as Dami Kim <Nine Puzzles>, Jung-Young Kim <My Trouble-Maker Mom>, and Minha Kim <Pachinko S2> have also advanced to the final round, reaffirming the global status of K-drama. Notably, Cate Blanchett and Hirokazu Kore-eda, who respectively served as Jury President and Palme d’Or winner at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, are expected to reunite in Seoul this October, drawing much anticipation.

In the Best Actor category, fierce competition is set between acclaimed actors including Emmy nominee Adam Scott <Severance S2> and Owen Cooper <Adolescence>.

▣ Program Awards: One Entry Per Category, Unprecedented Competition

￭ Miniseries: Fierce Global OTT Competition – <Adolescence> and <Pachinko S2> Lead with Four Nominations Each

A total of 8 titles have been nominated in the Miniseries category, with global OTT platforms such as Netflix and AppleTV+ showing strong dominance.

Among the standout selections are △<Adolescence>(Netflix), noted for its ambitious all-one-take format △<One Hundred Years of Solitude>(Netflix), based on the novel by Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez △<Asura>(Netflix), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, who marks his 30th year as a filmmaker this year △<Pachinko S2> (AppleTV+), which returns after winning 11 international awards.

Notably, both <Adolescence> and <Pachinko S2> have been nominated in 4 categories each, raising expectations for multiple wins.

￭ TV movies: Strong Domestic Presence

While the miniseries category is dominated by global OTT platforms, the TV movie category stands out with 4 domestic productions nominated, demonstrating notable success. <To My Lonely Sister>(KBS) and 3 CJ ENM productions — △<Our Beautiful Summer>, △<The Son>, and △<Unbalanced Love> — have been nominated as finalists, competing against titles such as △<Smetana> (Czech Television) and △<Champagne – Peppino di Capri> (RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana).

￭ Series: Popular National Hits Compete – Korea·Turkiye·Singapore in the Spotlight

Among the 8 finalists are △<For Eagle Brothers>(KBS), a family drama that surpassed a 23% viewership rating in Korea △<The Nightfall>(ATV), which topped Turkiye’s prime-time charts △<Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story>(Mediacorp Pte Ltd), the first Singaporean drama by Mediacorp to rank No.1 on Netflix locally.

  Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Seoul City, KBS, MBC, SBS, EBS, and CBS, the Seoul International Drama Awards 2025 will announce its final winners in September. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on Thursday, October 2nd, at 5:50 PM KST via SBS TV and the official YouTube channel. From Oct 3 to 4, a variety of events will take place around Banpo Hangang Park and Songpa Naru Park, including drama talk concerts, OST concerts, interactive experience zones, and the ‘SDA Golden Bell’ quiz event.

※Attachments: 1. SDA 2025 nominees list

                               2. SDA 2025 overview of  nominees