WEBTOON Reveals Winners of World’s Largest Web Novel Contest

Naver WEBTOON and Munpia have announced the winners of the 2026 World’s Largest Web Novel Contest, with 37 winning works selected from more than 10K submissions. The winners were revealed on July 22, capping the annual contest that saw submissions rise about 35% year-over-year.

The contest is aimed at expanding Korea’s web novel industry and giving new and established writers a debut platform. World’s Largest Web Novel Contest’s grand prize went to At the Ending of a Makjang Drama by Pitkong, a modern isekai-adjacent fantasy that follows a protagonist reincarnated into a melodrama.

For the 2026 edition, submissions ran from May 13 to June 21 before a month of judging across several categories. 

This edition attracted 7.4K writers, including 6.6K newcomers with no prior paid serialization experience, showcasing the increase in web novel creation. According to Naver’s press release, more than 80% of the participants were from younger demographics, spanning people in their teens to 30s.

World’s Largest Web Novel Contest’s Prize Pool Caps at ₩360 Million (~$246.3K)

Although organizers had budgeted up to ₩380 million (~$259.9K USD) in prize pool back in April, the 2026 edition ultimately distributed ₩360 million (roughly $246.3K USD) to its winners. The grand prize, ₩100M (~ $68K), is the largest single payout, which is awarded to At the Ending of a Makjang Drama. 

The three Best Excellence Award winners get ₩30M (~$20.5K) each. This ₩90M (~$61.6K) pool will be split among The Trade King in This Life, I Obtained the Omnipotent Angel, and The NIS' Indestructible Black Agent .  

The 10 Excellence Award and three Martial Arts winners will receive ₩10M (~$6.8K) each. Plus, each of the 20 webtoon works in the Special Selection category will get ₩2M (~$1.4K) apiece.

According to Naver WEBTOON, all winning entries will debut first on Munpia before expanding to Naver Series. Additionally, the Grand Prize and Top Excellence winners will also receive webtoon adaptation opportunities on Naver WEBTOON. 

Naver Series web novels production lead Cho Hyun-woo also said that the company will support the winning works reach more readers and discover their IP potential. They will also be considered for Naver Webtoons adaptations and for OSMU (One Source Multi Use). 

World’s Largest Web Novel Contest Expands With New Martial Arts Special Award 

World’s Largest Web Novel Contest awarded the 37 works across five tiers. Among them, the Martial Arts Special Award was introduced in April, with an aim to recognize up to five titles. 

A breakdown of all five categories at WEBTOON’s web novel contest-

Grand Prize: 1 work

Best Excellence Award: 3 works

Excellence Award: 10 works

Martial Arts Special Award (new): 3 works

Special Selection: 20 works

The dedicated Martial Arts category doubled the entries from 2025, with the genre receiving 1.4K submissions in the 2026 edition. This category awarded How a Ronin Survives the World of Martial Artists by Teruchi, Seogong’s Cultivating Through Gacha in a Xianxia World, and A Fishing Village Boy Raised as a Martial Artist by Apyeong-a.

As streaming platforms, publishers, and studios increasingly seek adaptable intellectual property, competitions like the World’s Largest Web Novel Contest have become strategic talent pipelines. Naver Web Novels General Leader Jung Young-seok also pointed towards previous Munia-discovered titles such as Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint and Reborn Rich. These became examples of how original web fiction can evolve into multimedia franchises, reinforcing publishers' strategy for new creator discovery.

Disclaimer: Sources used were machine translated from Korean.