NCT Dream wins top honor at Seoul Music Awards for 2nd year
Boy band NCT Dream took home the Grand Prize at this year's Seoul Music Awards (SMA) for the second year in a row.
The 33rd SMA took place at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday. It was the first time the awards, hosted by Korean media outlet Sports Seoul, were held overseas.
A total of 23 different awards were handed out to K-pop artists, including NCT Dream, which won two awards — the Grand Prize and the Main Award — during the ceremony.
The awards are known to give only one grand prize to one artist, unlike other Korean music awards.
"It's an honor to start off this year with getting such a big award. Thank you so much," Jeno of NCT Dream said after receiving the Grand Prize.
"We also want to thank our fans for always supporting us no matter what," Jeno added.
Boy band Seventeen won the Best Album Award, and girl group NewJeans took home the Best Song Award.
Main Prizes were given to 18 artists: singer Kang Daniel, singer Sunmi, NewJeans, Riize, Seventeen, girl group STAYC, boy band Stray Kids, girl group IVE, girl group aespa, NCT Dream, girl group NMIXX, girl group (G)I-DLE, singer Youngtak, singer Lim Young-woong, ZeroBaseOne and BTS's V, Jimin and Jungkook.
Boy bands Riize and ZeroBaseOne won the Rookie of the Year Awards.
Other winners included BTS, which won the World Trend Artist Award, though all its members are currently serving in the military. V won Fan Choice of the Year, and Blackpink won the World Best Artist Award.
The New Wave Star Award went to three artists: singer Yuju, girl group Kiss of Life and virtual boy band Plave.
Plave was the first virtual K-pop band to win an award in the awards' 33-year history.
A number of K-pop artists took the stage for performances during the event, including NCT Dream, Riize and ZeroBaseOne.
Singer and actor Lee Seung-gi, Girls' Generation'sTiffany, GOT7's BamBam and Youngjae hosted this year's event.
The recorded ceremony will be aired on KBS N in January.
To find out more about K-pop Artists, visit Celeb Confirmed!
BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]
