A Canadian graduate student has been selected the winner of KBS World Radio’s “Speak in Korean” video contest.

Samuel Gendreau, a 25-year-old Canadian studying international relations in Ottawa, won the grand prize with his video titled “Strange habits I picked up by learning Korean.”

Gendreau showed off his fluent Korean in the video, even speaking the Gyeongsang provincial dialect.

A contestant from Poland took second place, while the third place winner hails from Vietnam.

About 200 people from 44 countries participated in the contest, which started to receive applications from June 20.

The winner of the grand prize will be awarded a six-day free trip to Korea, a meeting with newscasters, and opportunities to participate in KBS programs. 

KBS World Radio also plans to produce a special program in eleven languages on the screening process of the two-month contest and the winner’s trip to Korea. The program will be aired worldwide on October 9, which is Hangeul Day, a holiday that commemorates the creation of the Korean alphabet.

The videos of those who applied for the contest are posted on our website at world.kbs.co.kr.