The Internet Election News Deliberation Commission, operating under the National Election Commission (Chairman Yeo Sang-hoon), in collaboration with the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (President Jung Sung-eun), held the "8th Internet Election Reporting Awards" ceremony and the "9th Simultaneous Local Elections Election Reporting Deliberation and Evaluation Seminar" at 2:00 PM on September 16 at the Press Center in Seoul.

The Internet Election Reporting Awards aim to promote policy-centered, fair, and responsible journalism while encouraging active voter turnout. For the 8th awards, 29 media outlets participated with diverse planning projects for the 9th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections, from which four organizations were ultimately selected for honors. 

The Grand Prize was awarded to EBS for its comprehensive coverage addressing the superintendent of education races, which are often overlooked by the general public. Additional category winners included Today N (National Category), Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo (Local/Regional Category), and News Min (Independent Media Category). 

The judging committee, led by Chief Judge Hong Kyung-soo (Professor at Ajou University and President-Elect of the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies), emphasized critical evaluation criteria such as whether media outlets deeply analyzed regional issues and candidate policies from voters' perspectives, and whether they broke away from conventional reporting conventions.

Highlighting the winners, the committee praised EBS for shedding light on the superintendent elections—a race that typically suffers from lower public interest—by delivering systematic and deep-dive analyses of core educational issues and all candidates' platforms.

Today N was recognized for innovative planning designed to empower youth as competent voters, while Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo earned high marks for rigorously verifying regional controversial issues and candidate pledges. 

News Min was commended for partnering with civic organizations to analyze ordinances across 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, thereby enhancing public awareness of local councils and fostering a greater sense of electoral efficacy.

Furthermore, the committee noted a recent surge in AI-assisted reporting projects; while technological experimentation is welcome, greater value was placed on articles that achieved deeper investigative depth and clearer communication with the audience. 

Following the awards ceremony, the subsequent seminar evaluated internet media election coverage and the deliberation activities of the commission during the 9th Simultaneous Local Elections. Experts engaged in vigorous discussions regarding desirable directions for voter-oriented election reporting and strategies to improve the election reporting deliberation system.

Moderated by Professor Lee Jae-jin of Hanyang University, the session featured presentations by Professor Choi Jin-ho (Gyeongsang National University) alongside panel discussions involving Professor Jung Nak-won (Seoul Women's University), Team Leader Lee Jae-beom (Media Arbitration Commission), Editor-in-Chief Jeon Gyu-yeol (PoliNews), and Secretary General Huh Yoon-chul (Korea Internet Newspaper Association).

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