Who Will Win the Grand Prize at the 2025 SBS Drama Awards?

The five nominees for the Grand Prize at the 2025 SBS Drama Awards are out.

Ahead of the telecast on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. KST, the show dropped a second teaser on the 16th revealing this year’s top contenders.

After topping the 20-49 demo for six straight years, SBS dramas ruled both ratings and buzz in 2025. With a stacked slate of heavy hitters, the Grand Prize field that turned SBS into a drama powerhouse features Ko Hyun-jung, Han Ji-min, Yoon Kye-sang, Lee Je-hoon and Park Hyung-sik.

First up, 'Queen Mantis' is a high-intensity crime thriller set 20 years after the capture of a notorious serial killer known as the Mantis. When a copycat emerges, a detective reluctantly teams up with the last person he ever expected―his own mother, the original Mantis―to crack the case. Ko Hyun-jung delivers a tour de force as Jung I-shin, the chilling killer, serving breathless tension and proving why she’s a queen of the thriller genre.

'Love Scout' pairs Ji-yoon, a headhunting firm CEO who’s great at work and nothing else, with Eun-ho, the secretary who’s perfect at everything. Their up-close-and-personal office romance dialed up both butterflies and sweetness. As the flawless boss navigating career goals and workplace love, Han Ji-min brought mature melodrama and crackling chemistry―cementing a romance pairing for the books and reaffirming her status as a melodrama MVP.

'The Winning Try' is a rollicking sports dramedy about wildcard coach Joo Garam and the perennial underdogs of Hanyang Physical Education High School’s rugby team as they charge toward the National Sports Festival crown. With kinetic direction and a true “one team” arc, it sparked full-on viewer obsession. Yoon Kye-sang infused grit and heart into the coach who turns also-rans into winners, making him a bona fide closer to watch for his first SBS Drama Awards triumph.

'Taxi Driver 3' follows the covert Rainbow Taxi company and driver Kim Do-gi, who deliver vigilante justice with one phone call in a world where the system fails. Lee Je-hoon, as the righteous avenger taking down monstrous villains, steered the franchise through Season 3 with unshakable star power. All eyes are on whether he can ride that momentum to another top honor at the Drama Awards.

Finally, 'Buried Hearts' tracks Seo Dong-ju, who hacks 200 billion won in political slush funds and goes all-in to topple the absolute evil that killed him―and the corrupt world behind it. Park Hyung-sik plays an ambitious man who bets everything to get what he wants, delivering a magnetic performance that set pulses racing. Returning to SBS after a decade, can the prince of revenge go all the way to the Grand Prize?

Meanwhile, voting for Best Couple is officially underway. The nominees are Han Ji-min and Lee Jun-hyuk ('Love Scout'), Park Hyung-sik and Hong Hwa-yeon ('Buried Hearts'), Yook Sung-jae and Kim Ji-yeon ('The Haunted Palace'), Ha Yoo-jun and Park Ji-hoo ('Spring of Youth'), Choi Woo-shik and Jung So-min ('Would You Marry Me'), and Jang Ki-yong and Ahn Eun-jin ('Dynamic Kiss'). Voting opened Monday, Dec. 15 on Naver Entertainment’s voting service and runs through Dec. 24, with one vote per ID per day. The Best Couple winners will be determined by a weighted tally: 70% public vote and 30% judges’ scores.

The 2025 SBS Drama Awards airs Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. KST, when the night’s biggest winner will be crowned. 

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)