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THREAD: PLAGIARISM SCHOLASTIC AWARDS
in 2018, i received a national gold medal from @artandwriting for a memoir piece titled "of honey and spice." to date, it is the only memoir i have ever shared publicly. explores my evolving relationship with desi culture & as you can imagine, is deeply personal!
i learned recently that "of honey and spice" was essentially copied, lightly edited, and resubmitted to the 2020 scholastic awards--where it received a national gold medal & an american voices award (one more award than i ever received for my original piece!)
here is the doc i sent to the scholastic awards detailing specific examples of plagiarism!
the plagiarist literally took an essay already published on the scholastic awards site! and sent it in again as her own! & they couldn't catch it!
salt in the wound: i resubmitted the essay to the awards as part of my writing portfolio this year. it did not advance beyond the regional level.
beyond award recognition, this piece was about my life. my memories & experiences. someone took that content & twisted it into a resume point. i felt physically sick reading the plagiarized essay. i expected empathy and reparations from the organization that let this happen.
(this is the third time of honey and spice has been plagiarized. currently in communication with the other two publications involved, and hoping for a much more compassionate response from them than i have received from the scholastic awards)
this was end of april. it's now mid may. the awards were initially dismissive of my emails, citing privacy policies, and it took invoking school faculty backing for them to even agree to a phone call. the phone call and communication that followed was largely unproductive.
they quietly removed the plagiarized essay from their website & mailed an award revocation letter to the plagiarist. they apologized to me. i appreciate the award revocation and their apologies. but that is the bare minimum.
when a newspaper publishes false information, it is their responsibility to take accountability for their mistake and publish corrections immediately. they do not sweep their error under the rug and hope no one noticed.
similarly, i expected the awards to issue a public statement formally revoking recognition given to the plagiarist. i expected transferring of the recognition to me--after all, my writing was recognized! i expected some effort on their end to support me as the original artist.
i was told each of my suggestions violated their policies. i was told sorry, again. i was told thanks for participating. i was told a lot of nothing, essentially.
it is clear to me that their priority throughout this process has been protecting organization reputation, even at the expense of the very artists they claim to support. because recognizing me in any capacity means they must admit why i am being recognized!
this is an embarrassment for the awards, a hundred percent, but on a deeper level it is personally heartbreaking for me. i expected so much more respect than i have been afforded. i was treated dismissively, then apologetically, but never empathetically.
still: thank you to the readers who notified me. thank you to those who wrote emails on my behalf to the awards. i am grateful for you!
if anyone wants to read the original essay, it's below. i've basically won 3 national medals for it at this point.
if anyone wants to read the original essay, it's below. i've basically won 3 national medals for it at this point.
