The 2014 APAN Star Awards at the 2014 Daejeon Drama Festival kicked off the end-of-year awards season with a star-studded red carpet.
You Who Came From The Star further cemented itself as THE Korean drama of the year after taking home four awards. Kim Soo-hyun won Best Actor in a Mini Series, and together with Jun Ji-hyun, he also won the Hallyu Star Award. Best Director went to the drama’s director Jang Tae-yoo. You Who Came From The Star also won in Best Child Actress category with Kim Hyun-soo.
It’s Okay That’s Love was also another big winner at this year’s awards. Jo In-sung bagged the coveted Daesang (Grand Prize) Award for his portrayal of an obsessive-compulsive writer in the drama. Meanwhile, there were plenty of cheers from EXO fans as D.O won the Best New Actor Award. Lee Kwang-soo rounded out the bunch with the Popularity Award, a joint win with Jin Se-yeon (Doctor Stranger).
There were also some surprises as television dramas from cable broadcasting stations, such as jTBC and tvN, gained considerable recognition by racking up five awards between them. JTBC’s melodrama Secret Love Affair led the way with three awards: Best Writer (Jung Sang-joo), Best Actress in a Mini Series (Kim Hee-ae) and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hye-eun). TvN also followed suit with Jung Woo and Son Ho-joon from Reply 1994 taking home the Excellence Award for Actor in a Mini Series for actor and Best New Actor Award (joint winner with D.O), respectively.
In the feature length drama section, veteran actors Cho Jae-hyun (Jeong Do-jeon) and Kim Hee-sun (Wonderful Season) managed to win Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. Wonderful Season actor Ryu Hyun-jin took the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in the drama. Meanwhile, the Excellence Actor in a Feature Length Drama Award went to Kim Ji-hoon (Jang Bo Ri Is Here), and the Excellence Actress in a Feature Length Drama Award went to Kim Ok-bin (Yoona’s Street).
Other winners at the 2014 APAN Star Awards included joint winners in the Best New Actress Award Kim Seul-gi and Nam Bo-ra. Park Shin-hye won the Excellence Award for Actress for her role in The Heirs. Best OST went to Ailee (Fated to Love You OST), and the Fashionista Award went to Ji Hyun-woo and Kim Yoo-ri. Lastly, Hungry Woman bagged the SNS Best Drama Award.
In a night of festivities, there were also solemn tears when the late Choi Jin-sil was posthumously awarded for her years of dedication to the industry with a Lifetime Achievement Award, which her daughter received on her behalf.
All in all, there were a few surprises coming out of this year 2014 APAN Star Awards. First, SBS was the ultimate winner in this award ceremony with a whopping eight awards, significantly more than any other broadcasting stations. The SBS Drama Awards are certainly going to be more cheerful and competitive compared to KBS and MBC. It will be interesting to see the rivalry between You Who Came From The Stars and It’s Okay That’s Love as we see which one will bag more awards by the end of the year. Also, cable broadcasting stations of tvN and jTBC are entering the dramaland competition in a big way. APAN Star Awards, and most of drama awards for that matter, usually tend to be biased toward cable dramas in favor of the big three of KBS, MBC, and SBS but not this time around. It is definitely refreshing to see that cable stations’ relentless push for quality dramas has finally been awarded fairly. Mainstream stations had better watch their backs from now on.
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2014 APAN Star Awards!
(APAN Star Awards, YouTube, Images via TV Report, Hankyung)
