Gyeongsangbuk-do triumphs with fourth consecutive SNS Grand Prize

【Financial News, Andong = Reporter Kim Jang-uk】Gyeongsangbuk-do has achieved the feat of winning the SNS Grand Prize for the fourth consecutive year.
Gyeongsangbuk-do received the grand prize in the metropolitan and provincial government category at the 16th 2026 Korea SNS Awards ceremony held in Seoul on the 26th. This marks its fourth consecutive win.
The APEC promotional song from the provincial government's official YouTube channel, Boiso TV, also won a bronze award at the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.
Spokesperson Park Sang-hyeon said, “Winning the grand prize for four consecutive years is the result of our efforts to listen to residents’ stories and reach out to them first.” The spokesperson stressed, “Government communications should not stop at explaining policies; they should go further by resonating with people and engaging in dialogue with them.”
The spokesperson added, “By using new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), we will make provincial administration easy for anyone to understand and share Gyeongsangbuk-do’s culture and K-food in ways that resonate around the world.”
The province received high marks for engaging with residents through content featuring provincial news and Gyeongsangbuk-do’s attractions and food. Its YouTube and social media channel operations were rated highly by both experts and users in voting.
Boiso TV won bronze in the Marketing Innovation category of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for a promotional song with lyrics and music created using generative AI, released ahead of the APEC summit. It has about 378,000 subscribers, making it the most-subscribed YouTube channel among metropolitan and provincial governments.
The judging panel described the promotional song as “a new approach that used AI to encourage public engagement with national culture, driving innovation in public-sector marketing and setting a new standard for global communication.”
Building on its award wins, the province will expand promotional content aimed at overseas viewers. As international interest in K-food grows, it will introduce “K-Foodmentary” to showcase Gyeongsangbuk-do’s food to the world.
K-Foodmentary is a name combining “Food” and “Documentary.” It will travel overseas with signature local specialties from each city and county, filming local people as they experience the flavors of Gyeongsangbuk-do.
The first episode follows a trip to Mongolia with Andong salted mackerel and will be released on Boiso TV in December.
Meanwhile, the Korea SNS Awards are organized by the Korea Social Content Promotion Association and sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The awards are presented to companies and public institutions that actively communicate with the public, based on assessments of their social media use through quantitative evaluations, expert reviews, and user votes.

[email protected] Kim Jang-uk Reporter