Incheon National University (President: In-Jae Lee) announced that the “10th Reseña: Best Book Review Contest,” organized by Haksand Library, successfully concluded with an award ceremony held on the 20th. A total of 50 book reviews were submitted by INU students as well as undergraduate students residing in Incheon or attending universities located in Incheon — marking a 39% increase in participation compared to last year (36 submissions).

Haksand Library hosts this annual book review contest to enhance critical thinking among university members and promote a reading culture within the local community.

The Grand Prize was awarded to Song Tae-eun, a student from the Department of Library and Information Science at Incheon National University. A total of eight INU students were recognized — including two First Prize winners and five Encouragement Prize recipients. Song participated with the assigned required reading, Multicultural Citizenship, and won the Grand Prize with the review titled “Multiculturalism as a Right: Reading Citizenship Through Experience.” Song stated, “While writing this review, I reflected on how, although we strive to show care and kindness toward one another, institutional and legal systems still fall short in many areas. I hope this experience becomes an opportunity for all of us, myself included, to better respect members of a multicultural society and reconsider the meaning of citizenship.”

At the award ceremony, Library Director Professor Young-Dohn Yoon (Department of Ethics Education) commented, “Reading texts that are woven from an author’s lived reality means reinterpreting their concerns within the context of our own era. I believe it is one of the best ways to expand the scope of thought and human connection by communicating both diachronically and synchronically. As one awardee expressed, ‘Understanding the universe is a process of understanding oneself,’ and I wholeheartedly agree. In this sense, reading and writing remain the enduring future of education, even in the age of AI.”

Award Ceremony of the “10th Reseña: Best Book Review Contest,” Haksand Library, Incheon National University

The judging panel, composed of professors from the INU College of Humanities including Professor Seung-Hyun Hwang, praised the Grand Prize-winning work, stating: “This review insightfully captures the book’s core argument — shifting multicultural discourse from the realm of moral virtues such as tolerance and respect to the institutional and rights-based dimension — and elevates it into a political-philosophical inquiry into reconstructing citizenship.” They further noted, “The writing is clearly structured and highly accessible to general readers, demonstrating a level of completion befitting the Grand Prize.”

The winning works of this year’s contest can be viewed on the Haksand Library website in the ‘Collections (Award-Winning Book Reviews)’ section:https://lib.inu.ac.kr/ik-collections/bulletins/inu-reviews