K-pop's 1st D Awards: Lineup ft GOT7's Jinyoung, Enhypen, where to watch, popular winners and more

A brand-new K-pop awards show is about to make a big splash in Seoul this weekend, thanks to the inaugural D Awards with UPICK. Organised by K-media outlet Sports DongA, the first-ever edition of the newly launched awards series will be held on Saturday, February 22, at Korea University’s Hwajeong Gymnasium.

K-drama stars Go Min Si (Sweet Home) and Lee Jong Won (Brewing Love) will step in as the main hosts of the 2024 D Awards with UPICK, while broadcaster Yoo Jae Pil is expected to be the pre-opening, presumably the red carpet, event MC. In yet another star-packed gathering led by K-pop performances by ZEROBASEONE, P1Harmony, tripleS, ENHYPEN, NCT WISH, RIIZE, YOUNG POSSE and more, a grand roster of drama actors will also be in attendance as honourable presenters.

Time: Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, at 6 pm KST (2:30 pm IST). The pre-opening event will commence ahead of the main show at 3:30 pm KST (12 pm KST).

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2024 D Awards criteria

As always, a certain significant batch of award categories’ winners have been picked 100% by fan votes via the UPICK app. Others will be determined by a combined sum of online votes, downloads, physical sales, streaming, judging and SNS votes.

Today’s (IST) award ceremony will be classified into two categories: D Awards Delights and D Awards Dreamers. The former will recognise top K-pop artists whose contributions to the music scene elevated the banner of the Hallyu industry this past year. Meanwhile, the latter will pick winners from the new batch of rising rookie artists who will set the tone for the future musical chapters.

Pre-award show winners

A handful of winners of the ‘FanPick’ award categories were announced beforehand as the voting period came to an end last week. After a cutthroat competition between fandoms, tripleS and ENHYPEN were crowned the Best Girl Group Popularity Award and Best Boy Group Popularity Award winners, respectively.

Similarly, TWICE’s Chaeyoung and ZEROBASEONE’s Zhang Hao won the UPICK Global Choice - Girl and Boy awards. Meanwhile, Lee Seungyoon and Red Velvet’s Wendy claimed the Best Boy Solo Popularity and Best Girl Solo Popularity titles.

Here are some other pre-ceremony award announcements.

Best Choreography: TWS, ILLIT

Best Band: DAY6, QWER

Discovery Award: FIFTY FIFTY, tripleS, 82MAJOR, YOUNG POSSE, UNIS, KickFlip

Best OST: N.Flying

Best Video: aespa, RIIZE

Best Tour: ENHYPEN, TREASURE

Best Stage: ZEROBASEONE, P1Harmony

Best Group: ENHYPEN, RIIZE

2024 D Awards lineup (performers)

A week ahead of the awards ceremony, Sports DongA revealed the first spoiler of the performers’ stage. The following artists are expected to perform the below mentioned hits from their respective discographies on Saturday evening.

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• ENHYPEN
• QWER: Present a stage that has never been revealed on TV before.
• FIFTY FIFTY: Will be unveiling “SOS” (Night BassRemix) from their remix album “Love Tune: Rewired.” Their mega hits “Cupid” and “Gravity” are also included in the setlist.
• TWS: “Plot Twist” + more surprises
• UNIS: “SUPERWOMAN” + “Curious (Only You Don’t Know)”
• N.Flying
• P1Harmony
• tripleS
• ZEROBASEONE
• 82MAJOR
• RIIZE
• YOUNG POSSE: “Scars” + “XXL”
• NCT WISH
• KickFlip: JYP’s special rookie’s first award show appearance

1st D Awards Presenters

• K-drama star Cha Seung Won
• Ahn Eun Jin (My Dearest)
• Bae In Hyuk (Check In Hanyang)
• Kim Ji Eun (Check In Hanyang)
• YouTuber Mimiminu (Kim Min Woo)
• Singer and composer Park Sun Joo
• Actor Go Kyung Pyo
• 2PM’s Hwang Chan Sung
• Girl’s Day’s Bang Min Ah
• YouTuber Kang Nam
• The Witch star Roh Jeong Eui
• The Witch actor Park Jinyoung (GOT’s Jinyoung)
• Lee Hak Joo (The Potato Lab)
• Jo Yi Hyun (The Matchmakers)
• Jung Gun Joo (Check In Hanyang)
• Seo Beom Jun (The Fiery Priest 2)

Where to watch the 2024 D Awards?

Despite the main awards ceremony kicking off at 6 pm KST, fans will get to watch a delayed broadcast of the show on Channel A and the Channel A YouTube channel, @play-channelA, at 10:30 pm KST (7 pm IST) the same day.

*This story was edited again on February 22, 2025, to include the list of pre-award show winners and YouTube streaming availability.