On Friday night, 172 works from 43 countries went head to head at the 5th annual Seoul International Drama Awards.

Staying true to its global format, awards went out to dramas from all over the world, including Britain, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Malaysia, India and Chile.

The Japanese drama “Shoe-Shine Boy” walked away with the highest honor. Based on a novel, the award-winning series, which charted the life of a shoe shiner during the aftermath of World War II, aired in 2009 on TV Tokyo.

Top honors for single drama, miniseries and drama series went to Canada’s “The Summit,” KBS’ “The Slave Hunters” and MBC’s “The Great Seondeok,” respectively, with second honors going to the U.K.’s “The Day of the Triffids,” the Japanese medical drama “Jin” and to Canada’s “Murdoch Mysteries 3.”

“The Slave Hunters,” which reeled in high viewer ratings this year, also took home special Hallyu awards for drama and the director. The star of the series, Jang Hyuk, shared the special Hallyu actor award with “IRIS” lead Lee Byung-hun. 

Filmed on a state-of-the-art Red One camera ― used by prominent directors like “Ocean’s Eleven” Steven Soderbergh ― “The Slave Hunters” wowed audiences with its gritty, action-heavy tale of a nobleman-turned-bounty hunter in his journey for revenge, and eventually, redemption.

MBC’s “The Great Queen Seondeok” also had its fair share of the limelight, with actress Ko Hyeon-jeong and scriptwriters Kim Yeong-hyeon and Park Sang-yeon receiving special Hallyu awards.

The hit MBC series managed to rack up high ratings through its 62-episode run, spinning the tale of the early trials and tribulations of the renowned Silla Kingdom queen.

Ko, who played the villainess in “The Great Queen Seondeok,” shared the honor with “Brilliant Legacy” actress Han Hyo-joo.

The Canadian thriller, “The Summit,” also put in a strong showing, nabbing the best director award for Nick Copus. The two-part series on a bio-terrorism test gone awry had also won two Directors Guild of Canada awards in 2009.

Honors for best actor and actress went to Carl-Kristian Rundman who starred in Finland’s “Easy Living,” and to Margot Ros and Maike Meijer for their turn in the Netherlands’ “Tower C.”

Five hundred thousand netizens picked “Brilliant Legacy” heartthrob Lee Seung-gi, Taiwanese actor and singer Vic Chou, Taiwanese actress and singer Ruby Lin and Hong Kong actress Charmaine Sheh as their favorite actors and actresses via Yahoo! Korea.

Lee and actresses Lin and Sheh attended the awards ceremony. Other attendees included actress Han Hyo-joo, actor Jang Hyuk and the popular ballad-belting K-pop boy band 2AM, who performed on the night.

This year’s Seoul International Drama Awards was organized by the Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee and Korean Broadcasters Association.
By Jean Oh (oh_jean@heraldcorp.com)