Would it be OK, having won a competition or an award but subsequently disqualified, to claim to be 'Winner of the X award (later disqualified)'? After all, the disqualification came after the success and the work submitted must have had some merit.
Would it be OK, having won a competition or an award but subsequently disqualified, to claim to be 'Winner of the X award (later disqualified)'? After all, the disqualification came after the success and the work submitted must have had some merit.
I completely agree with Lorraine. I would think that the words "later disqualified" would attract all the attention of an agent for all the wrong reasons. If your book went on to get published traditionally, do you think the publisher would ever write "Winner of the ____ award (disqualified on technical grounds)"? I can't recall ever once seeing something so ridiculous.
Self-defeating, Brian. To say you won and then had the prize removed for any reason would give someone a very negative impression of you and your work. It's not the success that will linger, as it obviously does for you, in the mind of the addressee, but the disqualification; and the fact that you are still claiming the win would imply either dishonesty or simply sour grapes.
I think you have to be honest about it and be careful as to what you're using the recognition for. So long as your disqualification was on technical grounds and not because of dishonesty then you can use it, being careful to disclose the reasons as to why it was disqualified. Being slightly tongue-in-cheek about it may go down well as well; we all make mistakes and we should have a sense of humour about them.