When you find an event where only one person obtained an award (eg a bug fix comes in, or you find a solitary entry with no event details), that is generally very suspicious. Take a look at the histories - it doesn’t generally happen unless it is a log way back into the history of our fair lands. What is more likely is that there were more awards given out, and they are not recorded in the database.
So here’s my standard procedure for chasing it up:
*double check the date you entered. Check your source isn’t using month-day-year format.
*confirm the event happened on that date. Information sources that can be used are listed below. While people have good memories, a firsthand account written within days and saved somewhere is less likely to only mention only their friends, and is more likely to have accurate date information, as well is less likely to be susceptible to the fuss of time.
*Try to confirm that royals attended too if possible. Thankfully people generally advertise that fact.
*Contact the person who received the award if you can easily. They will remember the details more clearly, and may remember clearly that they were the only award recipient that night.
*Consider contacting the royals who gave out the award. Maybe they have some spare copies of paperwork tucked away.
*Contact people from the area - be it a personal communication, or a post to a relevant mailing list, or just an appeal to the lochac list. Give as much information about the event as you have found out. Details like event location can really help jog people’s memory more than years.
*Remember that titles can be given at court that are not awards (eg admiral of lochac, royal guard) , and if a lot of these were given out, there may have been only one award that gets listed in the OP, and this may explain the abnormality.
Information sources:
*pegasus - adds for events, lists of awards given (mostly complete), royal itinerary, royal words, etc
*local newsletters - adverts for events and mentions in calendar in preceding months, mentions in baron/ess’s blurb just pre or post event, event reports in month after event. Neighbouring groups within the same city may also be worth checking. Many groups have a number of newsletters online, and even groups that don’t keep older copies, may have a digital or hardcopy archive in a senior member’s house - keep asking around.
*mailing lists (local and lochac) - event adverts just prior to event, event reports just after, notices to the populace about the event (eg “can someone bring thrones for the royals” confirms royal presence was expected), people suddenly signing their name or being adressed by new titles. Check local group websites for mailing lists, or lochac website for lochac mailing list archives.
*people - ask in person if it’s your local group, or try an email for a group further away. Give as much information about the event, weather, location, activities, etc as possible, as this will help people recollect the event better. You can target particularly knowledgeable locals, or just try and mail to the mailing list. Often people (eg senechal if you know no-one) will be willing to forward you message to the group, so you don’t have to join the mailing list for one mail. (Don’t forget to ask people to “reply to you offlist as you are not on the mailing list”).