ASEAN top prize revoked from Filipino artist on grounds of ‘plagiarism’

Left photo is the suspected plagiarized artwork by Filipino graphic artist Christian Joy Trinidad next to the original artwork by Spanish graphic artist Nekro. Photos by Ej Dela Cruz and Nekro / Facebook

MANILA — Another Filipino artist was revoked of the top award given by the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) – Philippines Painting Contest after an investigation revealed that the winning piece was plagiarized.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office of ASEAN on Wednesday recalled the award given to graphic artist Christian Joy Trinidad for the painting entitled “Fast to the Future” which won the first place and a cash prize of P50, 000.

“The subject entry was not completely original, which is a major criterion of the competition,” DFA Spokesperson Charles Jose said discussing the decision of the judges in the competition in a statement to Rappler.

The recall of the award was done after an investigation conducted by the department showed that the graphic which features a woman wearing a black helmet-like device was similar to the work of Spanish digital artist Nekro.

The investigation was primarily initiated after the department received several complaints saying that the artwork was plagiarized from the Spanish artist’s work.

Aside from returning the cash prize and the Certificate of Excellence already issued, Trinidad is also requested by the department to file an apology for having submitted an artwork copied from another artist’s work.

With reports from Toby Roca, Rappler