'36th Suwon City Cultural Award' Ceremony to be Held on the 15th of Next Month
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Five recipients of the '36th Suwon City Cultural Award,' presented to citizens who have contributed to the development of local culture, have been selected.
Since 1984, the city has annually presented the 'Suwon City Cultural Award' through recommendations from specialized institutions by field and deliberation by an awards committee. A total of 181 recipients have received the award through last year. The 36th awards ceremony will be held on the 15th of next month in the grand hall of Suwon City Hall.
The recipients are ▲Academic field: Choi Dong-ho (71), Professor Emeritus at Korea University and Chair Professor at Kyungnam University ▲Arts field: Kim Jeong-ja (73), Chair of Sungjeong Cultural Foundation ▲Education field: Choi Woon-sil (63), Representative of the Lifelong Education Promotion Foundation of the Republic of Korea and Professor at Ajou University Graduate School of Education ▲Community Service field: Shin Hyun-ok (67), Chair of the Dementia Art Therapy Association ▲Sports field: Lee Sung-yeol (64), Baseball Coach at Yusin High School.
Professor Choi Dong-ho is a native of Suwon, poet, and literary critic. He was officially invited to the Nobel Prize presentation ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden in 2011, thereby elevating the status of Korean poetry literature. He served as the first chair of the Suwon City Humanities Advisory Committee (2013-2015) and president of the Korean Poetry Association (2016-2018), and currently serves as a member of the Korean Academy of Arts. He has authored 79 works including poetry collections and literary criticism collections and continues his creative activities.
Chair Kim Jeong-ja has devoted efforts to the promotion of cultural arts, beginning with the establishment of 'Nanpa Boys and Girls Chorus' in 1981, followed by the 'Sungjeong Youth Symphony Orchestra,' 'Sungjeong Musical Group,' 'Sungjeong Philharmonic Orchestra,' and 'Sungjeong Arts Planning.' She has held the 'Sungjeong National Music Competition' 28 times to discover and nurture artistic talent. She has held over 2,000 domestic and international performances and free touring concerts by the Sungjeong Cultural Foundation, thereby broadening the foundation for cultural arts.
Professor Choi Woon-sil has nurtured talents in the lifelong education field at universities within the jurisdiction for 21 years since 1998. In 2015, she established and operated the 'Lifelong Education Promotion Foundation of the Republic of Korea' in Gwonseon-gu, conducting research and developing programs in the lifelong education field. She also published 'Lifelong Learning Times' to provide lifelong learning information to the community. She proposed the establishment of the 'World Lifelong Education Hall of Fame' in Suwon, elevating the international status of 'Suwon, a Lifelong Learning City.' At the 'World Lifelong Education Hall of Fame Commemoration Ceremony' held at Ajou University in 2017, Professor Emeritus Jung Ji-ung of Seoul National University and Park Young-do, director of Suwon First Lifelong Learning School, were inducted into the 'World Lifelong Education Hall of Fame.'
Chair Shin Hyun-ok is a pioneer of dementia (prevention) art therapy in Korea, having established the Dementia Art Therapy Association in 1991 and conducting dementia art therapy for 28 years at senior centers, welfare centers, community centers, and religious institutions within the jurisdiction. She has continuously served the community. In particular, she has operated various programs including exhibitions for culturally disadvantaged elderly, outdoor sketching activities, silver face painting, silver makeup, and silver wellbeing cooking.
Coach Lee Sung-yeol has worked at Yusin High School for 24 years since 1995, recording four national tournament championships and two runner-up finishes. This year, he reached the top consecutively at the 73rd Golden Lion Cup Tournament in June and the 74th Blue Dragon Cup Tournament in July. He also served as national team coach for the World Youth Baseball Championship three times and achieved excellent results.