What's your opinion on award winning art theft?

[Divinity]

A girl by the name of Kasey Bowman has recieved national recognition, a ticket to New York and a Scholastic Art & Writing Award for a piece of work stolen from a popular DeviantArt artist. As someone who also recieved an award from that organization last November, I went ">:/" and wondered why they were giving her such positive exposure. Their Facebook wall is, naturally, 'esploding with outrage.

Background:

- The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers is "a nonprofit organization that identifies teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings their remarkable work to a national audience through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards"

- Kasey Bowman is a student of South Albany High School. Her "original" artwork was actually stolen from http://yuumei.deviantart.com . She did a terrible job of hiding this fact.

- Yuumei has written a public announcement on her journal addressing the issue: http://yuumei.deviantart.com/journal/31928904/ .

- And so have users of FB, apparently: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schola...s/107127577992 . Thankfully there's still a percentage of people intolerant of plagiarism.

- Kasey Bowman's deviantart (as stated by http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/): http://coyotebrutal.deviantart.com/

Have any AF members been involved in the Scholastic Art & Writing awards? Have you ever had a problem with thieves, personally? What kind of action do you think they should take after all of this has been brought to light?

[GameGeeks]

Scholastic doesn't have any merit to it as far as I'm concerned and probably never has. I'm pretty sure as a literary based company they're obligated to not only do a background check on images but make make it so they're accessible to plagiarizing claims. They don't do either. That program needed to either be revamped or shut down.

[Darkseid]

I found this way too funny. XD

This is certainly bull, and you know that this cheater is going to get what's coming to her.

I really doubt this is that big, but it's certainly annoying that someone can get away with that.

[TheThunderBringer]

>< This makes me very angry. I feel bad for the Yuumei and read her journal entry about it, and decided to help her by sending an email to both adresses she posted.

[poshyterra]

I'm angered by this. I will be sending an email to both of the addresses Yuumei had posted in her journal. It also angers me the fact that the Scholastic refuses to acknowledge this. They have no room number or a fax number posted and state to not email them about notices. What is she suppose to do then? Twiddle her thumbs and hope it turns out okay?

This is crap. I feel very sorry for Yuumei. Kasey Bowman stole someone else's work and apparently that's fine with her parents, teachers, and those at Scholastic. She's going to get what's coming to her.

[Divinity]

Thanks for supporting Yuumei, guys.

[Knuffle Bunny]

"i just received an e-mail from Virginia McEnerney, the executive Director of Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. She stated that all of Kasey Bowman's awards have been revoked. She also said that they never gave her the $10,000 scholarship or any monetary prizes (unlike what everyone has been telling me so I'm rather confused on the matter; perhaps there was some sort of misunderstanding?). Her plagiarized piece has been removed from the site and the award will be given to someone else.

McEnerney said that Kasey Bowman "acknowledged that she has made a mistake". I have yet to receive any personal or public apology from Bowman herself so it's not all over yet but at least Scholastic has finally acknowledged the plagiarism issue after almost a month (I first contacted them on April 6th).

Thank you all for helping me with the issue. I am very grateful for all the support and information people have gathered about Scholastic. However, please remember that while what Kasey Bowman did was shameful, please express your opinions about her in a civil manner. Please do not flame her with threats or cyber bully her."

Problem solved.

[Divinity]

Their official FB statement:

It has been brought to our attention, and we have confirmed, that a high school student submitted to The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards a painting that she now acknowledges was copied from another artist, Wenqing Yan. The student has apologized to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and her National Gold Medal and American Visions Award have been revoked. She is no longer considered a Scholastic Award winner. The work will not appear in our publications and the painting was removed from our online galleries. Contrary to information posted online by commenters on various sites, this student received no monetary prize from our program.

Plagiarism is antithetical to the core values of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and as an organization, we take a tough stand on plagiarism. We work closely with parents and teachers to help students understand the ethical and legal implications of plagiarism. Because of the number of submissions we receive, it is impossible for us to absolutely verify the originality of each entry, but we consider this to have been an isolated episode. Students who submit to the awards are required to sign a consent form that confirms the originality of their work. In addition, our guidelines clearly state that “[by] applying to The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, each student undertakes to (a) present original work that (i) has been created by her or himself and (ii) does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any other individual or entity…” We share our fans’ concern over this matter and take such issues very seriously. The student is well aware of the seriousness of this issue and has expressed her deep regret.

We encourage concerned observers to remember that the student involved has acknowledged that she has made a mistake, and to think about the effects that statements posted online may have. We also encourage parents to talk to their children about cyber-bullying and to read available resources on safe social networking on the Federal Trade Commission’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...ech/tec13.shtm.

We will shortly be announcing another student who will be honored with the American Visions Award for 2010.

Thank you.

Good to know.

[Rulloxp]

I've never personally been involved in any artistic awards. But, i definally feel strongly that YOUR work is YOUR work. NO-ONE should be able to take that. I redd this, and it made me so mad. People SHOULD NOT get credit for somebody else's work. Especially when it was clearly stolen. Yuumei deserves the award, and EVERYTHING for everything she did was hers. I know, this has already been said; but i felt the need to repeat it. She deserves what is rightfully hers..

Im very glad that the issue was solved though,

[zansa]

Senseless, why would I want an award for something I know I didn't do(to sell it I guess)? That would make me feel talentless.

[Rulloxp]

Senseless, why would I want an award for something I know I didn't do(to sell it I guess)? That would make me feel talentless.

I completely agree. I don't draw for a job, or for the satisfaction of others. I draw for myself, the thrill, the joyous time ihave in the process. i would NEVER. EVER. take credit for someone elses work. I would LOVE to have an award for my work, yes. But, if it wasn't mine? Never.

[Syaoran]

-(..)- Honestly theres no opinion for me. I just don't have one.

[Kaname Shikara]

This pisses me off >___> being someone who is working to become a great artist some day, this really got on my nerves. That comic of hers made my eyes tear up and it was the best thing I've seen/read in a long time. I REALLY hope Kasey whatever the plagiarizer gets what's coming to her. Yuumei deserves all the credit, all of it because it's her work. I'm ending my comment here before my next words get me in trouble. -__-;

[Acnologia]

I'm not an artist, but I'm curious as to what drove her to do this? Is she only apologizing because she got caught?

Though I have to agree with some of the people on her DA that the death threats are extreme.

[GameGeeks]

@Div.: I'll admit it's hard to verify everything they may get but at an absolute minimum they should verify anything they give medals to which it seems they do not. That's just common sense.

@Aiac.: Yeah, to both comments. She wouldn't have apologized if she hadn't been caught. Death threats are always too extreme. Only time I'd consider them acceptable is if someone killed someone another person cared about. But even that should just be to release anger.

[Vine]

How awful to think she believed she could actually get away with something so grievous. Perhaps she didn't expect to win? She must have been REAL nervous once she received the award, ha. I'd be a wreck. Looking at her mediocre "furry" artwork showcases her painful lack of experience. I don't mean to sound harsh, but the critic in me doesn't believe she should be afforded any mercy.

[Kanjoudakai_Ira]

It happens all the time.

[Alycursed]

Wow, that Kasey person really pissed me off.
It's ridiculous!

[pab]

It happens all the time.

So true. But I'm sure none of us imagined people did it to such extent. To receive an award for something you stole... Makes me paranoid for my art.

[Divinity]

Kasey made a public apology on her DeviantArt, here. It states:

I will not make any excuses, and I will not get defensive; I only want to apologize. I am so, so incredibly sorry about everything that has happened. First of all, I want to sincerely apologize to Yuumei. You are an incredibly talented artist and I regret putting you through such grief. You did not deserve that. Second, I apologize to Scholastic. I have damaged their credibility and I cannot begin to express how tremendously remorseful I am of that. I am sorry for not being honest about the origin of the painting or about the fact that it was not my concept or art. Also, I must apologize to my high school. I have disgraced the name of that school and the teachers that work there. I pray that any future artists that attend will not be unfairly scrutinized because of my mistake. The last thing I would ever want is for the future talent of the art world to suffer for something they were not even around to witness. I apologize to my family, and last, but certainly not least, I want to genuinely apologize to the online art community. I cannot fathom the hate and shame you all must feel for me, although rest assured, your enraged e-mails, myspace and facebook comments have not fallen on deaf ears. I have read through most of them, and I completely understand (although the death threats were a little harsh).

I am honestly ashamed of what I have done, especially considering only a year ago I felt the same anger towards art thieves. Now I have no one to blame but myself. I have single handedly brought this entire explosion of hatred and grief down on my own shoulders. I’ve most definitely taken a lesson from this miserable experience and I feel that, while I doubt I will ever be taken seriously again, I may be able to grow from this. I promise that under penalty of law, I will never plagiarize again. So all of you who now fear for the safety of your art and your ideas, I ask to please rest easy. Your work is safe, at least from me.

What I did was wrong, I will not deny that. I committed a crime and I am most certainly paying for it. I have admitted to everything, and I've completely willingly given up any and all awards I have received for that painting. In fact, I was notified by Scholastic that the gold medal and American Vision award have been given to other artists who truly deserve them. Also, about the $10,000 I supposedly received, that information is false. Not only did I not receive a single penny, but while I was invited to the awards ceremony in New York, it was only if I could afford all of the expenses.

I’m not asking for sympathy; there is no justification for what I did. I was wrong and I am sorry.

Sincerely,
Kasey Bowman

And Yuumei also left a few comments:

First, I want to thank everyone's overwhelming support! I will be drawing a thank you gift once I've sorted out all the notes and mails

Now, a lot has happened in the past few days and I think most (though not all) of the issues have been resolves.

The most important thing, and the reason for my original journal, is that Scholastic has finally acknowledged the problem after almost a month. I've received an e-mail from the Executive Director saying the same thing that everyone else has received: they acknowledge the issue, have taken down her work from their site, and revoked all of her awards.

Right now, I have not received a reply from Scholastics as to why it took so long and so many angered people for them to finally take action. They also haven't told me why the copyright infringement procedures were incomplete which rendered it impossible for me to report the issue. However, I've finally spoken with Kasey and worked a few things out.

The following is a rather complicated situation so please read carefully before making a decision about Kasey:

She contacted me to "apologize", but since I'm sure she never had to apologize for this kind of things before, it was a poor first attempt. She told me she has taken full responsibility of what she did, and then proceeded to deny responsibility by saying she never meant to do it as if it was not her decision. She also tried to take some blame off of herself by saying:

"Both my teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and my father really liked the intensity
of it and begged me time and time again to enter it in an art show. After
a couple of months of this constant nagging, I finally gave in and
submitted it."

I've spoken with Mrs. Johnson and she told me that she never begged Kasey to enter. Now, I've already scolded Kasey for trying to shift the blame onto others and for trying to lie to me so you guys should not flame her about this.

I've instructed Kasey to give a proper apology to the public without excuses, and to promise to never plagiarize again under the penalty of law. She complied and wrote a nice apology to you all [link] , please read it and be assured that she has learned her lesson.

While I can not tell you guys what to do, I do hope you guys can stop sending in hate mails and threats to her. I've already scolded her myself for plagiarizing and for trying to lie to me in an apology so there is no more need for you guys to do so. Please remember that Kasey's probably inexperienced at giving proper apologies but in the end she was able to write a good apology without lies or excuses.

Thank you all again for helping me with everything!!! I wish I could buy you all ice cream hahaha!!

[TheThunderBringer]

"With stolen wings you cannot fly"
xD That made me laugh soooo hard! Talk about irony. Glad it's all been sorted out.

[Rulloxp]

That makes me happy to see that Yuumei is although angered, happy about all of this. Hopefully she can continue making her artwork in peace.