diff --git a/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php b/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
index f3056bb..861c368 100644
--- a/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
+++ b/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
@@ -48,6 +48,20 @@ $gateJson = shell_exec(
 $gate = json_decode((string) $gateJson, true);
 if (!is_array($gate) || ($gate['status'] ?? null) !== 'passed') {
     fwrite(STDERR, "Promotion refused: intake gate did not pass for {$manifestName}.\n");
+    if (is_array($gate) && !empty($gate['errors'])) {
+        fwrite(STDERR, sprintf("Gate reported %d blocking error(s):\n", count($gate['errors'])));
+        foreach (array_slice($gate['errors'], 0, 10) as $err) {
+            $contextFile = $err['context']['file'] ?? ($err['context']['path'] ?? '');
+            fwrite(STDERR, sprintf("  - [%s] %s%s\n", $err['code'] ?? 'error', $err['message'] ?? '', $contextFile ? " ({$contextFile})" : ''));
+        }
+        if (count($gate['errors']) > 10) {
+            fwrite(STDERR, sprintf("  ... and %d more error(s). Run: php backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php --manifest=%s\n", count($gate['errors']) - 10, basename($manifestName)));
+        }
+    } elseif (empty($gateJson)) {
+        fwrite(STDERR, "Preflight gate failed to execute or returned empty output.\n");
+        fwrite(STDERR, "Run the gate directly to see the exact issue:\n");
+        fwrite(STDERR, "  php backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php --manifest=" . basename($manifestName) . "\n");
+    }
     fwrite(STDERR, "Resolve review-queue.json items first; quarantined files stay unpublished.\n");
     exit(1);
 }