Tapas Entertainment, a North America-based web novel and webtoon platform, announced 15 winners of its romance web novel contest, its parent company Kakao Entertainment said Friday.

The “True Love on Tapas” competition ran for approximately two months starting from October last year, with 15 entries selected out of a total of 264 submissions. It took place as part of Kakao Entertainment's strategy to strengthen its web novel expansion in North America this year. Despite being in its early stages, the web novel market in North America shows a high potential for sustained growth, according to the company.

A total of 15 winners that will each receive a down payment of $10,000 for serialization are "Iron Blood Bride" by PixxiePink, "Serving the Undying King" by Twoony, "Prince of Fire and Ash" by Leveret Moreau, "The Seventh Date" by KG Brightwell, "The Mafia's Nanny" by Suleidy Merced, "Summoned: Familiar of the Dark Magician" by Rachel Ashton, "My Husband's Divorce Attorney" by TheFlyingBookworm, "Whispers and Shadows" by Mariehallwrites, "Hail To The Saintess!" by Xula Von Ziegel, "I Didn't Ask to Marry You, Male Lead!" by AKG, "The Prince and the Pirates" by Yourpersonalprince, "Onabi Hex" by N.A. Carson, "Free Radical" by AmourAccompli, "Respectfully Yours," by Danni, and "Bondage" by GiveMeThatBread.

"It's such an honor to be one of the top 15. I am excited about this opportunity and what it will bring," said Ashton, the author of the "Summoned: Familiar of the Dark Magician." "I’ve realized what a supportive community Tapas is for the creator community," she added.

After its serialization on Tapas, Kakao Entertainment said it will also review the web novel's serialization on KakaoPage's Novel Comics, based on the popularity of the content on Tapas. Novel Comics distributes webtoon versions of web novels.

"Through this contest, we hope that creators in North America will have the opportunity to experience web novels, which is a successfully established content genre in Korea," said an official from Tapas Entertainment.

"We hope through Tapas, North American creators can not only debut as web novel writers but also receive professional support in expanding their IP through Noble Comics and publishing. We hope many people pay attention to the infinite possibilities," the official added.