Nominees List for 8th APAN Awards 2022

What is the difference between a Top Excellence category, and a Top Excellence (Performance) category? Does the regular Top Excellence category mean they were popular, but not necessarily good? 

Also... I now realize I didn't watch a lot of kdramas released this year. I think the only ones I know are Semantic Error and Our Beloved Summer T_T

okay, so—looking at this list i've realized i've watched a lot more 2022 releases than i thought sfjsfdnkjsdnj. that being said, i feel like i'll be going through most of these categories in this post by my personal favorites/what i've watched among them but we'll see

Picture Award (known as DOTY/Drama of The Year) — hands down i would pick The Red Sleeve (bc that sh*t destroyed me) but with MLN coming in as a possible strong contender from reviews i've seen and EAW as the dark horse of this summer, i wouldn't be surprised if either of them won instead. 

Director Award — TRS again coming in at the top of my list, although i'm surprised that D.P (which i am going to start right after watching Prison Playbook) wasn't included in the previous category as well. 

Scriptwriter Award (known as Writer Award) — Park Hae Young and Jung Hae Ri, the two queens of scriptwriting—look, i'm going to have to say that if neither of them win i'm going to start questioning the taste of whoever is in charge of the panel deciding these things XD

New Actor Award — give Tang Jun Sang that APAN, tyvm. he knocked it out of the water in MTH (bc, like TRS, that sh*t destroyed me as well) and to see him on and off set is like watching someone flip a light switch—he practically melts into his roles and deserves to be awarded for that. haven't seen MPD or Insider yet, so i can't speak on Kang Yeong Seok, but if i come back before the results are announced and i've gotten around to them my rating might change, who knows?

Supporting Actor Award — have seen none of the shows on this list but i have a weakness for Heo Sung Tae in any role so here, have this *hands you a piece of my heart*

Supporting Actress Award — have also not seen any of the shows on this list but like the above i have a weakness for Kim Shin Rok in any role (+ the gifs i've seen of her are hot) so here, have this *hands you another piece of my heart*

Excellence Actor in Mini-Series Drama — Seok Koo, my beloved <333 Jin Sun Kyu was absolutely fascinating in TTD, tho (which i see you have listed as one of the best dramas of '22! bc it is! in every sense of the word), so if Seok Koo misses out to Sun Kyu i won't be too disappointed. 

Excellence Actress in Mini-Series Drama — Lee Se Young. that's it. that's the entire post. 

Top Excellence Actor in Mini-Series Drama (Performance) — they really took my entire harem (sans Joong Ki, bc i have yet to touch Vincenzo with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole), split them up and said "you can only have one", i— in all seriousness, tho, this is the one category (besides the next) where if any one of them wins i will be the one cheering them on from the comfort of my home and wiping a tear from my eye. (i must say that i am partial to Nam Gil [who missed out on his Baeksang this year ㅠㅠ] and Namgoong Min specifically *coughs in older men*) 

Top Excellence Actor in OTT Drama (Performance) — another attempt to split up my harem and force me to decide, but it will not work! i will see any of you precious human beings go home with an award or none at all

Top Excellence Actress in OTT Drama (Performance) — normally i would jump on Go Eun, but i haven't seen her in Yumi's Cells and i'm not inclined to, considering that i've been following the webtoon periodically and know (if they decide to stick mostly to canon) how the story ends. from the reviews Little Women are getting she's stunning there, so if they had held off on nominations/aired LW a bit earlier i might have put my money on that. as it is, Kim Hye Soo is my new crush and i will support literally anything she stars in—Hye Soo for the win!

Popularity Award (Actor) — i give up at this point. have at it, lads, i'll wait for the outcome *secretly manifests a Junho/Seok Koo/Rowoon/Siwan win*

Popularity Award (Actress) — *does the same as the above but manifests nothing bc each of these ladies are extremely talented and deserve the world no matter who wins*

Best Couple Award — *chants softly* Woo to the Young to the Woo! Dang to the Geu to the Ra-mi! (ignore the way i have yet to actually start the show but have this special handshake living rent free in my mind—honestly we probably should have had the two of them as best couple, sksksksk) Lee to the Jun to the Ho! other than them i'm actually surprised to see my Semantic Error boys here—love that same-sex (romantic) pairings are slowly becoming mainstream enough to be nominated—but Worship Couple and our star-crossed Red Sleeve lovers are my best picks.

Best OST Award — there are three nominations from 2521 and i don't,,,,,, i don't understand,,,,, after most people i know raging about the ending on social media,,,,,,,,, where is TRS? TTD? D.P (which has me in a chokehold playing 2020 rn bc of the feels)? MTH (that didn't exactly release an official OST, but still)? Tomorrow (which had no nominations whatsoever but deserved at least [if not in this category] one solely for Jo In's performance in the first two episodes + Lee Soo Hyuk and Yun Ji On bodying their roles respectively)? i will let EAW slide bc i have had mutuals DMing links to the OST and i like it, so i may be biased, but there were so many snubs this year in the musical category i'm not even going to speak on that. me and my list of featured artists and composers will sit on the sidelines for this one

i think that's everything? this may have been too long but i got a bit carried away towards the latter half of this sksksksk