The Long Season and Meet Yourself Won Big at the 18th Seoul International Drama Awards

Douban, China's most influential media review platform, cemented its reputation as China's most credible drama-rating platform when two of its highly-rated series this year won big at the 18th Seoul International Drama Awards, commonly known as SDA, in South Korea. 

Today, the list of winners has been released by the Seoul International Drama Awards. But the actual ceremony will be on the 21st of September to be held at the KBS Hall in Seoul, South Korea.

The Long Season won Best TV Mini-Series

The Long Season, a crime-thriller drama, won Best TV Mini-series, sharing the honor with the Korean revenge drama, Reborn Rich, starring Song Joong-ki.

This is the first time that a Chinese drama won the Best TV Mini-Series award since SDA was established in 2006. The Long Season lead star, Fan Wei, won Best Actor for his role as Wang Xiang, the grieving father who seeks justice for his dead son 20 years ago. 

He is the first Chinese actor to win the award in 12 years at SDA since Chen Jiabin brought home the same honor in 2011 for his role in the epic drama, Three Kingdoms, which also won the Grand Prize award that year.

Fan Wei won Best Actor at the 18th Seoul International Drama Awards

The Long Season is directed by a young Chinese filmmaker, Bob Xin, whose debut drama, The Bad Kids (2021), was declared the first runner-up in the Best TV Mini-Series category at the Seoul International Drama Awards in 2021.

Meet Yourself, a Chinese modern romance drama with a refreshing rural theme and healing, produced by China Huace Media Group, won Best TV Series, sharing the award with "Act Like You're Asleep" from Greece. Meet Yourself stars Liu Yifei and Li Xian.

Meet Yourself won Best TV Series at the 18th Seoul International Drama Awards

In 2021, the C-Drama entry, Go Ahead, was declared the first runner-up (Silver Bird Prize) in the Best TV Series category during the 2021 Seoul International Drama Awards.

This is the first time that a Chinese series won the Best TV Series award in SDA in 17 years since Qiao's Grand Courtyard in 2006, the year that SDA was established.

Douban Rating Credibility

For this triumph at the Seoul International Drama Awards, Douban justifies its reputation as China's most credible media review platform. 

Douban rating for The Long Season

The Long Season is this year's highest-rated Chinese series in Douban with a score of 9.4, categorized as a "masterpiece". It is also the second most popular series, after The Knockout, this year in Douban with more than 800,000 users rating the drama.

The drama, which has only 12 episodes, can be streamed on Tencent/WeTV. It is top-billed by veteran Chinese actors - Fan Wei, Qin Hao, and Chen Minghao. 

The Long Season is one of the Top 20 Highest-Rated Chinese series of all time in Douban. See our comprehensive list HERE.

Douban Rating for Meet Yourself

Meet Yourself is this year's highest-rated modern romance drama in Douban, garnering a rating of 8.7 from more than 200,000 users. It is the second highest-rated drama overall (tying up with Three-Body) this year next to The Long Season.

2023 Seoul International Drama Awards

The Seoul International Drama Awards, also known as SDA, is an annual award ceremony based in Seoul, South Korea which honors excellence in television drama productions worldwide. It was established in 2006 and presented by the Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee and the Korean Broadcasters Association.

This year's winners voted by the Jury (and not by popularity) under the International Competition Category:

1. Best TV Movie:

• Mayflies (United Kingdom) produced by All3Media International 
• Belascoarán PI (Mexico) produced by Perro Azul

2. Best TV Mini-Series:

• The Long Season (China) produced by Tencent Video
• Reborn Rich (South Korea) produced by SLL

3. Best TV Series:

• Meet Yourself (China) produced by China Huace Media Group
• Act Like You're Asleep (Greece) produced by ERT S.A

4. Best Director:

• Stephanie Murat for The Fragile Colossus (France)

5. Best Screenwriter:

• Aude Marcle for The Fragile Colossus (France) and Nima Javidi for The Actor (Iran)

6. Best Actor:

• Fan Wei for The Long Season (China)

7. Best Actress:

• Bae Suzy for Anna (South Korea)
• Nina Ellen Odegard for Afterglow (Norway)

Notes:

The Grand Prize (Daeksang) and the Golden Bird Prize winners will be announced at the actual ceremony on September 21, 2023. The last Chinese drama that won the Grand Prize at SDA was Three Kingdoms in 2011.

The Outstanding Star Award in the International Invitation Category is given to up to 6 Asian celebrities who were selected by the global fan voting and not by the Jury.