[ChaseHendrick]

Change and reason

The 6 Oct 2026 snapshot still treated First Letters as $50,000 per scroll for a maximum of 10 scrolls ($500,000) and 22 eligible volumes, including PHerc0343.

Checked 11 Oct 2026 from the prizes page body, not the homepage banner. Villa commit 34d4b260 (#2037) matches that body:

• 2027 Grand Prize is unchanged: $800,000 / $100,000 / $50,000 / $50,000. Deadline 25 June 2027, 11:59pm Pacific. All 13 volumes remain, including PHerc1447.
• First Letters is $50,000 per scroll for a maximum of 9 more scrolls, up to $450,000 remaining. One prize was already used. Eligible volumes are the previous 22 except PHerc0343 (21). Same deadline.
• PHerc 343 was awarded on 8 Oct 2026 to Erwin Nieuwlaar (official post, @scrollprize). That is why it left the eligible list. This PR does not claim anyone else is close and copies no private scores.
• Paris 4 title remains $50,000, open, deadline 25 June 2027, 11:59pm Pacific.
• Progress prizes remain $20,000 best of the month, plus awards from $250 to $20,000. Next deadline 31 Oct 2026, 11:59pm Pacific.

kit/data/prizes-2026-10-06.json stays as the historical snapshot (22 First Letters volumes, including PHerc0343, maximum 10, $500,000). prizes.SNAPSHOT now points at kit/data/prizes-2026-10-11.json. The villa frontmatter that feeds the homepage banner still said $500,000 and max 10 at that commit; this snapshot follows the page body.

Draft #37 recorded the award on 9 Oct while villa's eligible list still included PHerc0343. This branch starts from current main and follows the 11 Oct list.

Validation

• Live page body fetched 11 Oct 2026: 21 First Letters volumes, no PHerc0343, "maximum of 9 more scrolls" and "$450,000". Grand Prize still lists PHerc1447 (13).
• python -m unittest tests.test_kit -v : 33 tests, OK. PrizeSnapshotTest checks the 11 Oct counts and that the 6 Oct file still has 22 volumes including PHerc0343. plan now rejects PHerc0343.
• python -m kit prizes --today 2026-10-11 prints First Letters as $450,000 with 21 eligible volumes, and the Grand Prize still includes PHerc1447.
• Full python -m unittest discover -s tests was not run. Numerical tests outside tests/test_kit.py do not load the prize snapshot.

Contribution checklist

• I read CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.
• This PR contains no credentials, private research, candidate images or descriptions, maps, renders, meshes, masks, labels, datasets, or weights.
• Research claims have dated public sources and clearly stated controls and limitations; no reading or novelty claim is implied by model output alone.
• Third-party notices are preserved, and I have the right to contribute these changes under Apache-2.0 (with any separately licensed material identified).
• Relevant tests and documentation are updated, or I explained why they do not apply.