Plagiarism, fake authors, books, newspapers, poetry, publishing, scandal, washington post

Copycat Kiddies Ruin the Washington Post's Poetry Contest, Again

They start early! The Washington Post regrets that one of the kids published in its KidsPost poetry contest actually submitted a poem written by Shel Silverstein. (Last year's winner was also a copycat, reports Regret the Error.) There was more than one indiscretion: agents, click through to see which clever, annoying kids to get in touch with. (They're "branding" themselves as renegades with no respect for the old, bourgeois ideas of art and propriety!)

One of the poems that KidsPost published April 29 as part of its poetry contest was not written by the child who submitted it. The poem that appeared as "Horrible, Just Horrible" was actually written by Shel Silverstein and is titled "One Out of Sixteen." The child who sent in the poem originally told KidsPost that it was her work. Another poem on the page, titled "Eraser," was inspired by, but not credited to, Louis Phillips, who wrote "The Eraser Poem."

[Washington Post]

12:28 PM on Mon May 5 2008
By Sheila
1,825 views
7 comments

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Steverino at 12:38 PM on 05/05/08
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The poem was submitted by Walt Berkman's son.
mysterygirl at 12:43 PM on 05/05/08
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The poem was submitted by Walt Berkman's son.

This is an original comment.
TedSez at 12:59 PM on 05/05/08
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Connectedness Index: 583

Anyone who thinks kids never plagiarize has never seen episode 12 of any school-set TV drama. What they should be asking is: How come the judges of a kiddie writing contest didn't recognize a poem by Shel Silverstein?
MisterHippity at 02:05 PM on 05/05/08
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Connectedness Index: 491

I have a confession to make.

I didn't write: O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!

Edward Lear did.

But I meant every word of it. That was one lovely pussy.
morethanareference at 04:48 PM on 05/05/08
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Is it just me or is this type of thing fairly easy to check for? Hasn't anyone at the Washington Post heard of plugging a few lines into Google before they declare a winner??
uncle_wiggly at 06:42 PM on 05/05/08
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For me, this haunting photograph exemplifies the entirety of the twenty-first century.
munkles at 07:12 AM on 05/06/08
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They saw the phrase "Horrible, Just Horrible", thought "Hey! This is what kids today are feeling and groovy and stuff, too!", said okay, and went off to judge a horse show so that one day it would also qualify them to head FEMA.