Hack the Valley 9 Hackathon Rules

  1. Eligibility:

    • Participants must be at least 16 years old or have parental consent if under 16.
    • Open to university and high school students, as well as recent graduates (within one year).
    • Teams must consist of 2-4 members.
    • Hack the Valley 9 is only open to those who have been accepted and RSVP'd to the event on their hacker portal. Any other projects will not be considered for prize categories.

  2. Code of Conduct:

    • All participants must abide by the MLH Code of Conduct.
    • Harassment or discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated.
    • Collaboration, inclusivity, and respect are core values of Hack the Valley.

  3. Team Formation:

    • Teams are encouraged to have diverse skill sets and backgrounds, including participants with technical, design, and business expertise, to foster well-rounded solutions.

     

  4. Project Requirements:

    • Projects must be built entirely during the hackathon. Use of open-source libraries, APIs, and other public resources is allowed.
    • Participants must submit their projects to Devpost by the submission deadline.
    • The code must be original work, and any previously developed work must be clearly indicated. 
    • Provided code and any GitHub repos will be checked for originality.

  5. Intellectual Property:

    • Teams retain ownership of their projects.

  6. Judging Criteria:

    • Technicality and Quality
    • Design
    • Solves a Current Issue
    • Presentation
    • Inspiration

  7. Hacking Guidelines:

    • Hacking starts after the opening ceremony and must conclude by the submission deadline, Sunday 10:00AM!

  8. Submission Guidelines:

    • Submissions must be made on Devpost before the official submission deadline.
    • Submissions should include a project description, a link to the GitHub repository and slides. Demo video is optional.
    • Eligible submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by Hack the Valley. Judges may be executive members or third parties, may or may not be listed individually on the Hackathon Website, and may change before or during the Judging Period. Judging may take place in one or more rounds with one or more panels of Judges.

  9. Support and Resources:

    • Mentors will be available during the hackathon to provide support.
    • Participants can access workshops, activities, and sponsor resources provided throughout the event.

  10. Disqualification:

    • Teams will be disqualified for any form of cheating, rule-breaking, or plagiarism.
    • Use of another team’s work or any attempt to sabotage others will lead to immediate disqualification.
    • Under no circumstances will cheating or plagiarism be tolerated. Projects will be disqualified immediately.

  11. Prizes and Awards:

    • Prizes will be awarded based on the judges’ evaluation of the submissions.
    • Prizes are non-transferable and subject to verification.

 

Winners are determined from the total value of the judging criteria.