The Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles and the Korea Creative Content Agency partnered to host the 16th annual Dari Award Ceremony on Dec. 8.

The Dari Award is provided by the Korean government’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“Dari” is the Korean word for bridge. Since its inception in 2005, the awards honor entertainment executives and companies for outstanding contributions in advancing creative content of Korea within the U.S. market.

“This year marks the 16th Dari Awards, which is now widely recognized as the annual ceremony that celebrates companies that  have helped bridge business and culture of the United States and Korea,” KCCLA director Wijin Park said. “The Dari Awards will foster appreciation of Korean culture and creative content, while continuing to nurture closer business ties between the two countries.”

This year’s Person of the Year is Craig Plestis, the CEO of Smart Dog Media, for his achievment in introducing Korean TV formats such as “The Masked Singer,” “The Masked Dancer,” “I Can See Your Voice” and “Celebrity Showoff” to a U.S. audience.

KOCOWA was named Business of the Year for being one of the largest video streaming platforms for Korean TV programs and K-pop music in North America. KOCOWA has built strong partnerships with major media companies, including Google, Roku, Comcast and Viki to offer more than 17,000 hours of Korean content to a U.S. audience.

“In the year 2021, Korean cultural content such as K-pop, K-drama, K-film and K-food have continued to have a major impact on the North American market, in terms of revenues and user numbers,” KOCCA USA director Sungho Ju said.

“We expect to see a continuous expansion of Korean creative content across all genres of entertainment.

The award ceremony was held at the Korea Center and included a banquet and networking event.

Past recipients of the Dari Awards include film producers Roy Lee and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, music executive Scooter Braun, showrunner David Shore and companies such as Fox, ABC, Telemundo, Netflix, the Los Angeles Times, YouTube and CJ Entertainment.

For information, visit kccla.org.