On Science Day this year, a set of certificates and medals from the Ministry of Science and ICT arrived at elementary schools nationwide. They were the "Excellent Young Scientist Awards," given by the ministry to "budding scientists" selected from elementary schools across the country. Presented in the name of the deputy prime minister, the award is designed to inspire children with strong scientific curiosity and creativity to dream of becoming scientists. With roughly one recipient recommended from each elementary school nationwide, the scale of the awards is also substantial.
While it is a moment of great joy for the children who receive the award, civil servant A, who prepared it, was unusually hard-pressed this year. He scrambled in every direction to find "suitable" medals to send to elementary schools across the country. The budget allocated for the Excellent Young Scientist Award was just 67 million won, meaning prize items per child had to be arranged for under 11,000 won. Given soaring prices, that amount is barely enough to cover certificate and medal production, packaging, and shipping costs. An official at the National Research Foundation of Korea, which co-administers the awards program, said, "Each medal has to be produced for around 6,000 won, and even that stretches the budget — so next year, we're planning to find a vendor that can produce the certificates more cheaply as well."
This situation arises because the budget for the government's "Excellent Scientist Awards" program is woefully inadequate. According to government data on the 4th, the budget for the "Excellent Scientist Awards" program, which the Ministry of Science and ICT has run since 1987, stands at 1.622 billion won this year. The budget was 2.104 billion won in 2019 but fell to 1.708 billion won in 2021 and has remained at 1.622 billion won since 2024. Factoring in inflation, the real-terms cut is even larger.
Launched with the establishment of the Korea Science Award in 1987, the Excellent Scientist Awards program is a flagship honors system that has recognized scientists and engineers for 40 years. It currently comprises 10 awards, including the Korea Top Scientist and Engineer Award, the Korea Science and Engineering Awards, the Korea Science and Technology Award, the Korea Young Scientist Award, the Women in Science and Technology Award of the Year, the Korea Engineer Award, the IR52 Jang Young-sil Award, the Science Teacher of the Year Award, the Excellent Young Scientist Award, and the Choi Seok-jeong Award of the Year. Covering the full life cycle of a scientific career — from young researchers to mid-career and senior scientists, industrial engineers, women scientists, science teachers, and even children with scientific promise — the program carries considerable meaning and symbolism in the scientific community.
Yet after 40 years, the awards program runs on a shoestring budget that barely keeps it going. Of this year's total budget of 1.622 billion won, 1.275 billion won is allocated to cash prizes paid directly to recipients. The sole winner of the Korea Top Scientist and Engineer Award receives 300 million won; four winners of the Korea Science and Engineering Awards receive 70 million won each; four winners of the Korea Young Scientist Award receive 50 million won each; and 12 winners of the Korea Science and Technology Award receive 10 million won each. Adding the prize money for the remaining awards and supplementary items such as trophies and medals, the amount going directly to recipients totals roughly 1.382 billion won.
Once prize money is subtracted, almost nothing is left to enhance the fairness and prestige of the awards. Only about 240 million won is available to cover candidate nominations, expert screening, comprehensive evaluation, and event operations such as award ceremonies. One official involved in the awards program said, "We pay some judges a screening fee of around 200,000 won, and even when they travel long distances to participate, we can't cover their transportation separately. We need to identify and recruit experts from diverse fields to ensure fair evaluations, but we can't pay them enough, so we're cutting the number of judges."
Even the ceremonies — which should celebrate winners' achievements and elevate the prestige of the awards — are being staged as cheaply as possible. One civil servant who helped prepare a ceremony said, "Once, a staff member hesitantly asked whether we could hold the event without tablecloths. It was right after another staff member had personally gone around the flower market trying to keep bouquet prices down."
The science and technology community argues that top talent will remain in the field only if researchers feel assured that society respects them. The calls to improve how scientists and engineers are honored have grown louder, particularly as students flock to medical schools and as talent flows abroad. The government has been rolling out policies to foster and better recognize science and technology talent since last year. It introduced a "Korean-style stipend" guaranteeing research living expenses of at least 800,000 won a month for master's students and 1.1 million won a month for doctoral students in science and engineering. This year, it also created a new Ph.D. scholarship in science and engineering, providing 7.5 million won a year to roughly 1,000 doctoral students. The "Brain to Korea" program to recruit top foreign scientists was also expanded.
But officials on the ground say that rather than continuously rolling out new policies, it is more important to run the existing awards system effectively. Without sufficient recognition that allows domestic researchers to feel honored and proud, they argue, it will be difficult to attract foreign talent or to stem the outflow of Korean scientists.
The science and technology community is now preparing to ask the fiscal authorities to increase the budget for the awards. However, securing additional funding is difficult, as there is a strong perception that awards for scientists are event and operating expenses rather than research and development (R&D) investment. One official preparing the awards program said, "Giving scientists awards is not simply an event to hand out prize money — it's a process of socially acknowledging and recording their achievements. Awards and recognition should be seen as an important policy tool for keeping top talent in the science and technology field."
