Every year, usually clustered around the late autumn and winter months, K-pop enters its busy "award season." Suddenly your timeline fills with red carpets, glittering performances, trophies, and a flurry of unfamiliar words — daesang, bonsang, rookie of the year. If you're new, it can look like one enormous event, but it's actually many separate ceremonies, run by different companies and organisations, each with its own rules.
This guide untangles the basics: what the main trophy categories mean, why there are so many shows, and how things like fan voting and music sales feed into who wins. The goal isn't to memorise a calendar — it's to give you a calm framework so the season makes sense, whoever your favourite group happens to be.
What "award season" actually is
Award season is the stretch of time when most of K-pop's big ceremonies take place, typically reviewing the achievements of the past year. Think of it as the industry's year-end recap, spread across several broadcasts rather than one night. Because so many releases come out across twelve months, these shows act as a kind of summary — celebrating the songs, albums and artists that defined the year.
One source of confusion for newcomers is the sheer number of events. There isn't a single official "K-pop Awards." Instead, different broadcasters and music organisations each host their own ceremony. Long-running examples you'll hear mentioned include the MAMA Awards, the Melon Music Awards, the Golden Disc Awards and the Seoul Music Awards. These are presented here simply as well-known annual events — there's no agreed ranking of which one "counts most," and fans hold all sorts of opinions.
Daesang vs bonsang: the two trophy tiers
The two words you'll meet first are daesang (대상) and bonsang (본상). Understanding the difference unlocks most of how these ceremonies are structured.
A daesang means "grand prize." It's the top honour of the night, given to very few winners — often just one per category. Typical daesang categories include Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Winning a daesang is considered a major career milestone, which is why fans get so emotional when their group's name is called.
A bonsang means "main award." These are the core prizes given to a larger group of winners — often around ten artists per ceremony. A bonsang is a genuine achievement and usually a prerequisite for being in the running for a daesang, but because more acts receive one, it carries a different weight. In short: many artists can win a bonsang on the same night, while a daesang goes to a select few.
Alongside these, most ceremonies hand out rookie awards (sometimes called "Best New Artist") to standout groups or soloists who debuted recently, plus various popularity awards often driven heavily by fan voting. Here's a quick reference:
| Award type | What it means |
|---|---|
| Daesang (대상) | Grand prize — the night's top honour, such as Artist, Song or Album of the Year. Goes to very few winners. |
| Bonsang (본상) | Main award — a core prize given to a larger set of winners; usually a step toward daesang contention. |
| Rookie award | Recognition for outstanding artists who debuted recently, sometimes labelled Best New Artist. |
| Popularity award | A fan-driven prize, frequently decided largely or entirely by public voting. |
Why the criteria differ from show to show
Here's the part that trips up even seasoned fans: each ceremony uses its own formula to decide winners, and those formulas don't match. There's no single shared rulebook across the industry.
Broadly, the ingredients a show might weigh include:
- Sales and streaming. Some ceremonies lean heavily on physical album sales and digital streaming figures, treating commercial performance as the main measure.
- Fan voting. Many shows fold in public votes, sometimes for specific categories like popularity awards and sometimes as a slice of an overall score.
- Judge or expert panels. Some events include scores from music professionals or critics, adding a curated element beyond raw numbers.
- A blended formula. Quite often a winner is decided by a mix — say, a percentage from sales, a percentage from streaming, and a percentage from voting.
Because the recipes differ, the same artist can do brilliantly at one ceremony and less so at another, without anything being "wrong." If you'd like to see how performance is measured during the year rather than at year-end, our guides to Korean music charts and how music show wins are counted show two more measuring systems that also feed reputations.
Where fan voting comes in
Fan voting is often the part international fans engage with most directly, because it's something you can actually take part in. When a ceremony opens voting, fans rally to support their group — through apps, websites or sponsor platforms — and those votes can decide popularity awards outright or contribute to bigger categories.
Voting methods change constantly: the platform, the rules, how many times you can vote, and whether voting is free all vary by show and by year. If you want a practical walkthrough of how the process generally works, see our companion piece on how to vote for your favourite group. Just remember that the specifics there are general guidance — always check the current rules for the exact ceremony you're voting in.
A note on fairness debates
Because every ceremony scores things differently and many factor in voting, fans sometimes debate whether results are "fair." Some feel sales-driven shows favour groups with large buying fandoms; others feel voting-heavy shows reward the most organised fan armies rather than the most acclaimed music. These conversations get passionate.
It's worth holding all of this loosely. Awards are one snapshot of a year, shaped by whatever each organiser chose to measure — not a final verdict on artistry. You can celebrate a win, feel disappointed by a loss, and still recognise that a different show with a different formula might tell a different story. Enjoying the performances is reason enough to tune in.
How it connects to the wider calendar
Award season doesn't exist in isolation. The eligibility windows reward what artists released and promoted during the year, which ties the ceremonies back to the regular cycle of new music. If you're curious how those releases are planned and rolled out in the first place, our explainer on how a K-pop comeback is made shows the groundwork that eventually gets recognised on these stages.
One steady truth cuts through all of it: ceremonies, categories, scoring formulas and voting methods are revised regularly. A show might add a category one year and drop it the next, or change how much voting counts. So treat any specific detail you read — here or anywhere — as a starting point, and confirm the current rules from each show's own official source.
The short version
Award season is many ceremonies, not one. A daesang is the rare grand prize; a bonsang is a main award shared by more winners; rookie and popularity awards round out the night. Each show scores differently — some on sales and streaming, some with fan votes, some with expert panels — which is why results vary and why fans debate them. Watch for the performances, vote if it's fun, and always check the latest rules. Do that, and the dazzling chaos of year-end season turns into something you can actually follow.