When you accuse a 6-year-old of plagiarism in an art contest...

... you'd better be ready to make a decision to disqualify her and stick to it. You've besmirched her, and you can't unbesmirch her. Oh, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service! You idiots!

“Following the contest, concerns were raised by parents and teachers about the authenticity of the work,” the agency said in a press release. “The Federal Duck Stamp Office investigated and learned that the painting had been transferred, which is inconsistent with the Junior Duck Stamp Contest rules.”

Madison [Grimm] said she was “sad” and “a little angry” when she heard the news. “I worked really hard on it,” she told the Daily News.

Her father said was aware that the graphite transfer technique, which is when an artist uses pencil lead on a photo print to create an outline for a painting, was allowed, as was Madison’s use of an unpublished photo from her father as a model.

Robert Lesino, who was the Federal Duck Stamp Program chief when the junior program started, helped write the rules for the contest. He told the Argus Leader that Madison’s two practices were not violations, but rather legal and common practices among artists.

So it wasn't even a violation of the rules?! The press release was wrong? I'd like to know more about these "parents and teachers" who raised "concerns." Maybe they thought the "Junior" contest was supposed to consist of childlike art, like this one, which is the only one in the "2013 Federal Junior Duck Stamp Best of Show Art" Flickr set that doesn't look like it was traced from a photograph. Frankly, I'd prefer to see a duck stamp made from a naive child's drawing than a mature child's labored attempt to produce something that an adult illustrator would do, but you've got to make different rules to get that outcome. The concerned parents and teachers should lobby for different rules next time, not take aim at the one mature child who happened to be the best of the acting-like-an-adult photo-tracers.