MANILA: An amateur photographer apologised yesterday and withdrew his participation in a photo contest after it was found that the entry that won him the top prize belonged to a Brazil-based social worker.
Mark Joseph Solis, a political science graduate of the University of the Philippines who is studying public administration also in UP, won $1,000 plus round-trip air fare and accommodations to Chile and Brazil for the entry he called “The Mettle of the Filipino Spirit.”
The entry in the 2nd Calidad Humana National Essay Photography Competition organised by the embassy of Chile, with the theme “Smiles for the World,” (pictured) supposedly depicted a boy from Zamboanga City helping his father gather seaweed.
The contest was supposed to celebrate uniquely Filipino human qualities or calidad humana. The STAR ran the story after the awarding ceremonies last Wednesday that coincided with the National Day of Chile.
After the story came out, however, Gregory John Smith, a social entrepreneur with the global network Ashoka and founder of the Children at Risk Foundation in Brazil, said it was his photo.
“The photo was actually taken by me in Brazil in 2006, while on Christmas holidays at the coast together with four brothers from the same poverty-stricken family in Brazil, who were supported by our programme at the time,” Smith told GMA News Online.
He pointed to his Flickr account featuring the same photo, dated 2006 and titled “Neptune of the Sea,” together with photos of other children in Brazil.
Solis admitted lifting the photo from Flickr. “I’m deeply sorry. I’m in deep remorse. Right now, I already contacted the organisers and I’m about to contact the owner to personally convey to him my deepest and personal apology,” Solis said.
In a comment he posted on Rappler, Smith suggested that Chile’s Ambassador Roberto Mayorga give the prize instead to his foundation, which also helps children in the Philippines.
Smith said he would be visiting Manila early next year for a project in Manila’s Smokey Mountain. Rappler reported that it was not the first time Solis had joined a photo contest with an entry taken by another person.
He also entered Smith’s photo in the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation contest, with the child identified as an Indian. In the same contest, Solis entered a second photo also lifted from the Flickr album of the Children At Risk Foundation.
Photos lifted from other people’s Flickr accounts were also entered by Solis in competitions organised by Papworth Trust, VinylPlus and even the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Rappler reported.
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