On October 11, the 4th annual Chung Moonsoul Science Journalism Award ceremony was held in KAIST Seoul Dogok campus. The award was presented to Hankyoreh for its debunking of scientifically unfounded rumors circulating the web regarding the Sewol ferry tragedy. The awards in the broadcasting and Internet category were presented to JTBC and Ohmynews, respectively.

Every year, the Chung MoonSoul Science Journalism Awards are presented to journalists who contribute to the development of science-related journalism. Since 2011, KAIST has been funding this tradition with donations of approximately one billion Korean Won made by previous chairman of the board, Moonsoul Chung.

Hankyoreh and its reporters Ho Kyun Song, Ki Yong Park, Woo Ri Choi, Young Ji Seo, and Jae Wook Lee have received accolades for reporting on and clarifying six major myths surrounding the Sewol ferry incident, including the involvement of submarines in the capsizing of the ship and the discovery of a student’s corpse with a fractured finger bone resulting from the chaotic evacuation process.

JTBC’s Yong Seok Son has earned credit for publishing reports on how the ferry’s extended weight had exacerbated the extent of the damage and causalities caused by the accident. One of Ohmynews’ featured section, The Dead’s Records and the Living’s Testimonies by Byung Han Lee, Do Kyun Kim, Jung Mi Ko, Hong gi An, Yong Min Choi, Ju Young Bong, Dong Hwan Kim, So Hee Park, and Ji Hye Kim, was recognized for their attempt to enable readers to freely communicate with one another via the web and mobile services.

The prize money for the main award given to Hankyoreh was 20 million Korean Won while each recipient of the other awards walked away with one million Korean Won.

After the awarding ceremony, the 4th annual Science Journalism Review Conference was held with a focus on the news reports on the Sewol incident.