need opinion?

[Jeronimo]

so i recently entered one of my pieces into an art contest ultimately judged by tim burton with cash prizes...one of the rules stipulate you cannot use third party stock...i need an opinion
this piece here was chosen as a semi finalist and the judging is still in progress http://moonbeam13.deviantart.com/jou...89722#/d4xcw3j
on the SAME site in the stock photos i found this (which was given zero credit) http://eveyd.deviantart.com/art/Vint...lack-268260304
now i confronted the artist about how the border was done...
her reply...
"It took quite a bit of trial and error. At first I did it really free hand, and realized it was making an uneven shape, so I used the circle/marque tool to make the various shapes and fill them in. Since I was working in gray, I used color dynamics on my brushes [light gray to dark gray/black] and went over all the areas to give it their textures, And then kept going back and forth between the different values to give the various designs some volume."

"I hope that makes sense, it a little bit hard to explain as I went through many steps that didn't work/fit, and I kept trying again and again."

me:
"so you you did not use any images for the border? all done with the selection tool...and went over all the areas...interesting approach...ill give it a shot in the future..."

her reply:
"Yeah, I mostly just experiment until I'm satisfied. To really get this gritty texture though, you have to go over it quite a few times with different brushes of different sizes so that it doesn't look mechanical like digital brushes sometimes end up looking.

I had looked up some borders/frames for inspiration, but nothing I found fit with my intention, so in the end I totally designed my own"

sooo...i put it through photoshop...walla
they overlay perfectly...

after i confronted the artist...this is what i get

"I'm sorry you feel that way, I had no idea that was what you were insinuating about my work, I thought you were honestly curious about my process, which I shared with you. Do I have to outline every single little step of my process to you until you are satisfied? Yes I used a marque tool, yes I used a drop shadow effect. Those are tools in Photoshop that are there for people to use. I'm sorry if that means to you that it is no longer considered digital painting.

And why are you going on about a rug? I had to double check to figure out where I put a rug, and I think you mean the texture of the border? I already explained how I achieved that texture. If that is still not satisfying, please wait until tomorrow when I have the time to copy out all the specific settings I created on the brushes in order to get that effect.

If at all possible, please also apologize, I am not a liar. If you want I can help you critique your work for you to understand what they are looking for in these contests. I think you were really close with your entry. I analyzed past contests in order to better understand what the judges would look for. I thoroughly researched the rules and the past trends on contest winners before I designed my own piece.

If you are absolutely certain that I am lying, then there really is nothing I could ever say or do to convince you. Like I said though, I'm willing to give you feedback on your work--if you think my experience will be at all beneficial to you."

am i making a wrong assumption? do i owe her an apology?