
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995                   TAG: 9511020050
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOR THE RECORD

The Current staff learned this week that the first-place stories in our Scary Story Contest were not the original works of the students who sent them in. Because of that, we have had to disqualify those winners.

The contest sought original stories with Halloween themes by area students. Eventually, we said, the winning entries would be published in the newspaper.

Some of the works submitted, however, were actually written by professional authors and had been published elsewhere.

When someone takes a story or poem from another person, then passes it off as one's own, it is known as "plagiarism."

The Current staff read through more than 400 stories to find a winner for the contest. In some stories, we recognized characters and plots from other books. We disqualified those stories immediately. If we suspected a work was not written by the student who sent it in, we contacted libraries and teachers. But just as we cannot be familiar with everything out there, neither can our school professionals.

We will announce the new winners as soon as we confirm that their works are original.

We would like to give credit to the proper authors of the works that ran in Tuesday's newspaper.

The story, "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," was actually written by R.E. Welch, and can be found his book "Scary Stories for Sleepovers."

The poem, "Bogeyman," was written by Jack Prelutsky, and can be found in an anthology called "Book of Monsters," collected by Bruce Coville.

by CNB