plagiarism in online fic

Yesterday afternoon, Maud posted a very interesting article about a weird case of plagiarism. The basics: According to an article in the Daily Princetonian, Seth Shafer wrote a story that won the Fictionline contest in 2001. A year later, an eerily similar story was presented by Princeton student Ung Lee to a SUNY Stonybrook contest, and it won. The story was part of an entire collection, which was written under the tutelage of Joyce Carol Oates, and which went on to win many awards. Within minutes, the article was being discussed on Zoetrope. Today, MobyLives posted a link to the same article, and even has an interview with the author. I think everyone would like to hear Ung Lee’s side, but he hasn’t popped in anywhere on the lit sites. The evidence is pretty damning, however: Seth’s story vs. Ung’s story.