Photo source: Talk Talk Korea, the official logo and theme of Talk Talk Korea

The world's largest Korean culture contest, Talk Talk Korea 2023, held a tremendous 2023 contest in seven unique languages that had over 500 international participants. The contest revolved around k-beauty, k-culture, k-fashion, and Introducing Korea, with 80 winners selected. The gifts to be won were a first-class trip to Korea for 9 days, Samsung Galaxy books, Samsung Galaxy tabs, Samsung Galaxy smartphones, a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) certification, and $50 Amazon cards for 40 people.

With the official announcement on October 13, 2023, by Talk Talk Korea, I had the opportunity to interview two winners, Anna Yahya and Fabian Alejandro via email and Instagram who took first positions with their winning works displayed on October 15, 2023.

Please kindly introduce yourself.

Anna: Hello, my name is Anna Yahya. I'm 27 years old and from Indonesia. I'm a college student and a freelance illustrator.

                                                                                              Photo source: Anna Yahya

What category in Talk-Talk Korea did you compete in?

Anna: I applied in the drawing category for K-fashion and a special contest, Introducing Korea. And I won by introducing the Korean category.

What inspired you, and how did you come up with an exceptional design that connected with the theme?

Anna: In introducing the Korean category, I used the theme "Step of Hallyu''. I got the idea based on myself and everyone who got into Hallyu. This interest started with knowing about K-beauty and K-pop, which most people definitely know about, and then moving on to watch K-drama. It's interesting as we can watch it everywhere, and now many people have watched K-dramas and K-movies. After that, people can learn about K-food, history, and traditional things in Korean culture. From all of that, I tried to put it all in one place and draw it in my style.

The competition had over 500 entries. How do you feel about being in the first position?

Anna: Actually, I just wanted to win, and it doesn't have to be the first place. But sometimes I also want to be the first winner, just a little. On the announcement day, I checked my email and website in the morning, but there was no notification, so I thought I might not win. I was a bit hopeless and didn't check it anymore. 

And at night, I saw an email notification from Talk Talk Korea. I didn't think that I would get first place; I was shaking when I read it, and I read it several times to be sure. I want to say thank you so much to Talk Talk Korea for choosing me as a winner.

                                                                             Photo source: Anna Yahya, the winning work of Anna Yahya

What message would you like to share with the world through your creative works, which will be displayed across Korean Cultural Centres globally?

Anna: I did not expect that my art would be seen globally, especially in Korea. I hope many people will know about Korean culture, especially traditional culture because Korea is not only about K-pop (boy bands and girl bands), there are so many interesting things about Korean culture. Like in my art that I made in a cute style.

What do you look forward to as you travel to Korea?

Anna: If I come to Korea, I really want to visit the places that appear in K-drama, because I like watching Korean, and then I want to visit the palaces, and many more.

Please kindly introduce yourself.

Fabian: Hello, my name is Fabian Alejandro and I'm from Colombia. I'm a graphic designer, and dancing has been one of my favorite things to do in my life, so I try to blend these two important things by creating dance videos with animation content. I've been participating in Talk Talk Korea since 2021.

                                                                                                   photo credit: Fabian Alejandro

What category in Talk-Talk Korea did you compete in?

Fabian: I participated in the K-Music category.

What motivated you, and how did you come up with an exceptional design that connected with the theme?

Fabian: I've been participating since 2021, therefore delivering a better entry each time was one of my motivations to improve my ideas and my skills. Also, the emotional support of my family and close friends gave me the strength to try it again this year.

You also experienced the competition, which had over 500 entries. How do you feel about being in the first position?

Fabian: It feels great because it feels like the result of a lot of hours, effort, and dedication after all these years trying to get the number one recognition.

What message would you like to share with the world through your creative works, which will be displayed across Korean Cultural Centres globally?

Fabian: The first message I would like to share with the world is: don't be scared to try different things. I'd love for people to share their passion for K-culture more uniquely and not be afraid to explore new things. Sometimes being unique is what makes you more special and will lead you to great achievements. I'm also very excited about my work being displayed across the Korean Cultural Centres globally. I just hope whoever sees my videos finds a lot of inspiration to create their videos in their most unique way.

As part of your winning prize, you'll be traveling to Korea. Please tell us if this is your first time traveling to Korea and what it means to you.

Fabian: I had the chance to travel to Korea in 2022 and it wasn't because of a contest. Rather, It was a trip I took after working hard and saving money over a couple of years. This time, however, is different and feels more special because it is the result of trying a couple of times to get first place, the result of many hours of dedication in improving my skills to deliver a better entry for the contest. Having this recognition is probably one of the most incredible experiences I will ever have in my life. This time around I will be sharing the experience with more people, which makes it more exciting and different.

                                                               Video source: Fabian Alejandro, the winning video work of Fabian Alejandro

https://youtu.be/ZBbfR4ufT98?si=U493Mf0dedDT-KCm

What do you look forward to as you travel to Korea?

Fabian: I want to learn new things from Korea, especially this time around where we will have staff with us, sharing their knowledge about culture, technology, hallyu, and other topics. I'm excited to live this experience with all the staff and other contestants. I'm pretty sure we're all excited and can't wait to share this experience with more people. I can't wait to record a lot of content there and will probably share this experience through social media platforms so more people get interested in participating.