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Award-winning photographer’s honor revoked

By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-12 16:11

Photographer Sang Yuzhu has been deprived of his Golden Mendel Award after he was accused of plagiarism by netizens, china.com.cn reported.

“Four winning photos are actually shot under the cooperation of Sang, Meng Tie and Wen Bo, which cannot show the winner Sang’s personal art style. The judging board of Chinese Photographers’ Association (CPA) decided to take back the honor,” a spokesman of the CPA, said at a press conference today.

The spokesman denied that Sang was suspected of plagiarism. He only emphasized that Sang simply didn’t meet the criterion.

Xu Lin, a retired senior editor of People’s Daily, questioned the reliability of the CPA’s statement. Xu also said that another whistleblower Xiao Ming had solid evidence to prove Sang was not present when the photos were taken, implying that Sang committed plagiarism.

The photos, taken in Tianchi Lake and Shangbai mountain in Jilin province in northeast China, are visually the same as four others published earlier by different photographers with the same angle, the same cloud shape, and the same shadows.

The Golden Mendel Award for China photographers is the highest award for domestic photography, held by the CPA every two years. About 332 photographers attended last year's awards with 12 of them receiving gongs.