‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ Wins A Few Baeksang Arts Awards

The 61st Baeksang Arts Awards were held on May 5 at the COEX D Hall in Seoul. Awards were presented for films and dramas that aired or were released between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025. To qualify at least one third of a program had to have aired by March 31.

Drama

Given its popularity among viewers it’s no surprise that the drama When Life Gives You Tangerines won a few awards, even though it was up against some tough competition with Lovely Runner, The Tale of Lady Ok, Doubt, and The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call.

When Life Gives You Tangerines had the most nominations of any drama, garnering eight in all, followed by Doubt at six and Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Lovely Runner and Trauma Code at five. Altogether, When Life Gives You Tangerines won four awards, including the Best Drama Award which was accepted by the drama’s production staff.

The first award given to the drama was the Best Screenplay Award, which went to the drama’s writer Im Sang-choon. The award was accepted by director Kim Won Suk, who already has four Baeksang Awards to his name, but he did not win an award for this drama. When accepting the award for Best Drama, he said that he made the drama in a time of hate, hoping that he could help people get along.

Singer-actress IU was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the drama, but instead it went to Kim Tae-ri, who starred in Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born. The difficult role required Kim to learn pansori, the traditional Korean form of storytelling. It’s her third time winning a Baeksang award and second for Best Actress. She previously won for Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

Park Bo-gum was also nominated for his role in When Life Gives You Tangerines, but lost to Ju Ji-hoon who played a reckless and talented doctor in the medical action series Trauma Code: Heroes On Call.

The Best Supporting Actor award did go to Choi Dae-hoon for his role in When Life Gives You Tangerines. He won over Kim Jun-han, Roh Jae-won, Yoon Kyung-ho and Hyeon Bong-sik. The award moved him to tears during his acceptance speech.

A Best Supporting Actress award went to Yeom Hye-ran for her memorable role in When Life Gives You Tangerines. She won over Kim Guk-hee, Kim Jae-wa, Ok Kyung-hwa and Jung Eun-chae. Yeom also presented the award with the help of Ahn Jae-hong. In her acceptance speech, Yeom referenced the character of Ae-sun, played by IU in the drama, saying “Ae-sun, your mom got an award.”

Song Yeon-hwa won the Best Director Award for the drama Doubt, winning against some stiff competition from Lee Do-yeon for The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call , Jung Ji-in for Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, Kim Won-seok for When Life Gives You Tangerines and Kim Hee-won for Light Shop,

Choo Young-Woo won a Best New Actor award for his role in The Tale of Lady Ok, defeating Kim Jung-Jin, Song Gun-Hee, Cha Woo-Min and Heo Nam-Jun. Chae Won-bin won Best New Actress for her role in Doubt, beating out Kim Tae-yeon, Roh Jeong-eui, Jo Yoon-soo and Ha Young.

A best technical (art) direction award went to Jang Yeong-gyu for the music in Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born.

Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon won Prizm Popularity Awards for their work in the drama Lovely Runner.

The Grand Prize for broadcast was presented by JoongAng Group vice-chairman Hong Jong-do and Ryu Seung-ryong of the Disney+ drama Moving. It was given to the Netflix show Culinary Class Wars.

Film

Actors Byun Yo-han and Go A-seong presented the Best Film Award to Harbin, which stars Hyun Bin. Producer Kim Won-guk accepted the award for the CJ ENM film, which won over competition from Love In The Big City, Revolver, House of the Seasons and Uprising. Meanwhile ,the Best Director (film) Award went to Oh Seung-wook for the film Revolver.

The Best Actress Award was given to Jeon Do-yeon for her role in the film Revolver. Her competition was Kim Geun-soo, Song Hye-kyo, Cho Yeo-jeong and Kim Go-eun who presented the award. Cho Jung-seok won Best Actor for his role in the film Pilot, winning against nominees Yoon Joo-sang, Lee Byung-hun, Lee Hee-joon and Hyun Bin.

The Best Supporting Actor (film) award went to Yoo Jae-myung for Land of Happiness. He won over Jung Hae-in, Jo Woo-jin, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Park Jeong-min. When accepting his award Yoo mentioned fond memories of the late actor Lee Sun-kyun. The Best Supporting Actress (film) award went to Claudia Kim for her role in Hur Jin-ho’s film A Normal Family.

The Best New Actress award went to Roh Yeon-soo for Hear Me: Our Summer, while the Best New Actor award went to Jung Sung-il for Uprising.

The Best Screenplay Award (film) was given to Park Chan-wook and Shin Chul for the historical saga Uprising. Park, who also directed the film, accepted the award.

The Grand Prize in Film went to Harbin cinematographer Hong Kyung-po.

The Land of the Morning Calm won the Gucci Impact Award. The award is given for a film that sheds light on an important message. The film focused on people living in a rural seaside community

Launched in 1965, the awards are decided by a 60-member panel of industry experts and academics. This year the Baeksang Arts Awards took place on Children’s Day in South Korea, so the ceremony included performances by young actors and photos of celebrities as children. The award ceremony was hosted by Shin Dong-yup, Suzy Bae, and Park Bo-gum.