Seoul Drama Awards to be streamed with no live audience in Sept. amid pandemic

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- This year's Seoul International Drama Awards (SDA) will be streamed online in September with no live audiences at the awards show for outstanding television dramas due to the new coronavirus pandemic, its organizer said Thursday.

The 15th SDA will be held at the MBC TV headquarters in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, on Sept. 10 and will be streamed live online, according to the SDA organizing committee. MBC plans to broadcast the event at a later date.

As means to prevent COVID-19, the organizing committee will not accept audiences at the award show as it has done in the past. Only the presenters, winners and the event's showrunners will be allowed at the venue.

According to the organizing committee, a total of 212 TV shows from 41 countries have been submitted. Of those, 108 were from Asia and 75 from Europe.

The awards show has created a short-form category for shows with running times of around 30 minutes. A total of 37 programs have been submitted in the new category.

The committee also pointed out that TV shows exploring the subject of female empowerment are plentiful in this year's submissions.

odissy@yna.co.kr
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