Organizing committee of China International Press Photo Contest announced on April 3 the disqualification of the two prize-winning photos. One is Initial Demolishment of Urbanization of Rural Areas which won the top prize in the economy and technology section. The other was Women Worker on Production Line which took the silver award. The 2nd China International Press Photo Contest in 2005 was held from March 21-24.

The organizing committee learned recently that the Initial Demolishment of Urbanization of Rural Areas was suspected of being a fabricated photo. The photographer had used computer software to cut and paste images to construct his competition entry.

According to competition rules, "fabricated photos, photos with several exposures and those modified or produced with computer technology are not allowed." The organizing committee believes that the Initial Demolishment of Urbanization of Rural Areas by Lin Qin does not meet this requirement. It therefore decided to disqualify Lin Qin's entry in order to ensure that the competition was taken seriously and remained fair.

Lin admitted in his letter to the organizing committee on April 3 that his photo in competition belongs to several moments and does not meet the competition rule. "When the demolition took place on May 20, 2005 in Yunong village, Futian District of Shenzhen, I took a panorama, and then a few stitch photos of collapsing buildings within 12 seconds after the explosion. It was unfair to others with my stitched photo winning the competition. Thus, I officially asked the organizing committee to disqualify my photo," Lin wrote in his letter. He also apologized for misleading the audience and affecting the reputation of the China International Press Photo Contest and its sponsors.

The organizing committee also confirmed after investigation that the silver award winning photo Woman Worker on Production Line was actually taken before 2005. The photo was submitted to the committee in the form of a group selection.

As the whole group of photos was completed in 2005, the photos meet the requirement of the organizing committee for group entries. According to the rules single images from a group which lose can be selected to compete in single photo competition. But due to the carelessness of the committee staff who failed to indicate the exact date when each photo was taken, the Woman Worker on Production Line, which was taken before 2005, was picked out by the competition's jury from the group to be entered in the competition for single photos.

The organizing committee apologized to its photographer Wang Fan and the jury too. 

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, April 5, 2006)