An award-winning photographer has forfeited his first-place prize in a photo contest sponsored by a Beijing environmental group after it was revealed that his picture was the reverse image of a photo that the winner stole from another photographer.

　　The plagiarism was discovered when the real photographer was surprised to see that his work had won the award, even though he had not participated in the competition.

　　The West China Metropolis reported Monday that the plagiarizer, Zhang Ziping, from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, entered the People and Water - Clean Water For a Healthy World photo competition organized by Clean Water Alliance (China), a non-government organization. The list of winners was announced on July 5.

　　Soon after Zhang won a first prize, Ren Shichen, a journalist at the Western Economic Daily in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, recognized that he had actually taken the picture of villagers on their way to fetch water and Zhang had simply rotated the photo from left to right.

　　"I took this photo on February 22, 2007 in Zhengning county of Gansu Province. Local villagers at that time had to fetch water from downhill because the well dried up. When I stood on the mountain road and looked down, I saw the villagers' silhouettes and was inspired to take the picture," Ren told the Global Times Monday. "I was astonished when I heard of the award."

　　Ren informed the competition organizing committee, which later launched an investigation and on July 16, nullified Zhang's winning photo entry.

　　Ren said he has spent 10 years visiting more than 100 villages in the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi and in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. He said he has taken more than 3,000 photos.

　　Ren said he would demand 50,000 yuan ($7,353) in compensation from Zhang.

　　"The photos are my painstaking work and Zhang's behavior has infringed on my copyright and right of honor. I feel offended," he said.

　　He said he has requested the organizing committee to contact Zhang, but his efforts failed.

　　The West China Metropolis said Zhang had won awards in other photo competitions, but did not provide specific details.

　　Calls to Zhang went unanswered Monday.

　　Li Jingfeng, an employee at Clean Water Alliance, told the Global Times that they did everything possible to try to prevent photos from being plagiarized.

　　"There are over 2,000 photos in this competition and we have a limited number of employees, so not every photograph submitted could be verified," he said.

　　Li said Internet users in the photo contest were free to submit their photos online and Web users then voted for their favorites.

　　A panel of judges viewed the most popular photos and selected a winner.（Peng Pu）

　　                                                                                              Source: Global Times