As the year-end award shows are quickly approaching, K-Pop fans are getting ready for those events. Fans are speculating on who will receive the rookie of the year awards this year. According to reports, the Mnet Asian Music Awards, or MAMA, will be held in Osaka, Japan, on November 29 and 30 for two days. IVE’s Jang Won Young and Super Junior’s Leeteuk are rumored to host the award ceremony.

Here are five K-Pop girl groups that are in the race to be the rookie of the year.

IVE

Since their debut on December 1, 2021, Starship Entertainment’s six members rookie girl group IVE have been making and breaking records left and right. Their debut title track, “Eleven,” made IVE the fastest girl group to get a music show win just after seven days after their debut. “Eleven” earned a total of 13 wins.

With their first comeback, “Love Dive,” IVE got a real-time all-kill just 47 days after its release. Finally, with the latest release, “After Like,” IVE got the first ‘Perfect All Kill’ of their career. Netizens are astounded and impressed with IVE’s success in such a short period.

IVE has already received several awards, including "Female Idol of the Year (Rising Star)" at ‘The Brand of the Year Awards,’ "Rookie Award - Female Group" at ‘The ‘Hanteo Music Awards,’ “Artist of the year (Bonsang) and “Next Leader Award” at ‘The Fact Music Award,’ 2022 among others. IVE has been nominated for "Best Female Rookie" at the 'Genie Music Awards.' IVE has a good chance of sweeping up all of this year's rookie awards.

NEWJEANS

NewJeans is a five-member girl group formed by ADOR x Hybe Corporation. On July 22, 2022, they released the pre-release debut single, “Attention.” They immediately took over the charts and won on MCountdown, Music Bank, Music Core, and Inkigayo with "Attention." 

“Attention” also brought NewJeans their first ‘Real time all kill.’ They are the first fourth-generation group to exceed 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify. NewJeans won the “Next Leader Award” at ‘The Fact Music Awards.’

With impressive success in such a short span of time, NewJeans are in the race for rookie of the year awards as they are one of the nominees for the category of "Best Female Rookie" at the 'Genie Music Awards.'

LE SSERAFIM

Formed by Source Music x Hybe Corporation, LE SSERAFIM is a South Korean girl group. Currently, the girl group consists of five members after Kim Garam was removed from the group in July. On May 2, 2022, they made their debut with the extended play "FEARLESS."

Eight days after their debut, they earned their first music show win on “The Show." LE SSERAFIM already won the “K-Global Super Rookie award” and the “K-Global Best Music Video Award” at the ’K-Global Heart Dream Awards.’ They also received the “Next Leader Award” at ‘The Fact Music Awards.’

LE SSSERAFIM is nominated for the "Best Female Rookie" at the 'Genie Music Awards.'

KEP1ER

Kep1er is a nine members K-Pop girl group formed through the Mnet survival program “Girls Planet 999.” Debuted on January 3, 2022, with the Extended Play ‘FIRST IMPACT,’ they are managed by both Swing Entertainment and Wake One Entertainment. With the debut song "WA DA DA," Kep1er earned their first music show win 10 days after their debut on Mcountdown.

Kep1er already received the "Rookie of the Year (Female)" award at ‘The Brand Customer Loyalty Awards,' The "K-Global Super Rookie Award" at ‘The K-Global Heart Dream Awards,' “Hottest” at ‘The Fact Music Award.’ The Genie Music Awards 2022 have nominated them for "Best Female Rookie."

NMIXX

The rookie girl group NMIXX was formed by SQU4D, a sub-label of JYP Entertainment. It consists of seven girls. They made their debut on February 22, 2022, with the lead single "O.O" and a single album called "AD MARE." NMIXX made their first comeback on September 19 with their second single album ‘ENTWURF’ and “DICE” as the title track.

NMIXX is one of the nominees for the "Best Female Rookie" award at the 2022 Genie Music Awards.

VIVIZ

VIVIZ is a K-Pop girl group composed of three former GFRIEND members, Eunha, SinB, and Umji. VIVIZ is managed by BPM Entertainment. They debuted on February 9, 2022, with an Extended Play ‘BEAM OF PRISM.’ VIVIZ joined IVE as the fastest girl group to get a music show win in just seven days after their debut on Show Champion. On April 26, VIVIZ appeared on Grammy’s Global Spin - a video series. They were the first ever K-Pop girl group to feature in the series.

In 2022, VIVIZ already won “Female Idol of the Year (Rookie)” at the ‘Brand of the Year Awards’ and “K-Global Hot Star Award” at the ‘K-Global Heart Dream Awards.’ They have a high chance of being nominated at the year-end award ceremonies.

Who would you vote to be the rookie of the year in 2022?