Sydney Mail, 1876

R:
a:
#3-4 (1 pr.)
b:
#2 (1 pr.)
 
Open to all. Any number of problems was allowed. Mottos and sealed envelopes were not required. All positions of sufficient merit would be published before any award was made.
 
J:
While correspondents were invited to grade problems between 1 and 10 (maximum), the final decision rested with the chess editor.
 
C:
1876-06-15
 
A:
a:
pr. J. Willis (Motto: J. W. (Bogan))
b:
pr. S. Tyrrell (St. Just)
 
hm. / sp. pr. T. Henderson
 
S:
The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser:
20/806 (1875-12-11), p. 759: announcement
21/810 (1876-01-08), p. 47: closing date
21/834 (1876-06-24), p. 823: summary of received problems
22/847 (1876-09-23), p. 407: judge's awards
22/855 (1876-11-18), p. 658: amended award
 
N:

According to the title pages of the referenced issues, the full title of the newspaper is The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser.

45 problems were received.

Several persons were thanked for assisting the chess editor with the awards, but it is not clear if they acted as judges or only as advisers. The editor appears to refer to them as judges, but the final report is not clearly from their hands.

Additional mentions were given at the end of the judge's report but are not included here as they appear to be more informal.

Some months after the prizes had been awarded, the editor noticed that J. Willis's problem contained one or two rather important duals, and wondered that no one (the author, the solving readers, or the judges) had seen them earlier. He also said that as the award had been made, it could not be altered, and that Henderson's problem (hm.) deserved something more in terms of award. The award was therefore amended to give Henderson's #4 a special prize.

Prizes

Problems in 3 or 4 moves

Prize: J. Willis

#3

Problems in 2 moves

Prize: S. Tyrrell

#2

Amendment

Special Prize: T. Henderson

#4