By Xu Aiying
Photo and video = Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism from June 28 through Aug. 31 will host Talk Talk Korea, the world's largest Hallyu (Korean Wave) content contest for foreign applicants.

"Experience the Essence of Korea," the theme of this year's competition, was chosen to elicit participants to recount their experiences with Korean culture and hear about their stories and experiences indirectly through their works.

The category Short Form, referring to short-form videos of memes and challenges, was added this year to reflect the global trend of consuming such clips. The other four of the five overall categories are Promotional Videos (Korean music, dance and instrumental performances); Arts and Crafts (paintings, webtoons, sculptures and calligraphy); Motion Graphics (2- and 3D animation and motion graphics videos); and Photos (of Korea).

The ministry will hold preliminary, first, second and final evaluations to select 80 winning works ranked from first to fifth in each category. The results will be released on Sept. 30 through the contest's official website (www.talktalkkorea.or.kr).

The first-place winners of each category will get to visit Korea for nine days to experience Korean culture firsthand, and the top three in each section will get plaques. The winner of Promotional Videos will receive additional prize money of USD 2,500 and the one of Memes and Trends USD 1,500.

Talk Talk Korea has steadily grown since its launch in 2014. Over its first 10 years, the contest sought to use Korea's diverse aspects as expressed by the sentiment of people around the world as an opportunity to rediscover the value of Korean culture and set the basis for the creation of new Hallyu.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon said, "Through this contest, we hope that participants tell diverse stories of their Korean experiences and for the emotion and excitement of such tales to be shared by people around the world."

Talk Talk Korea, the world's largest contest for Hallyu (Korean Wave) content, will run from June 28 to Aug. 31.