PAGE_011 / RULES

OFFICIAL RULES

the fine print

1. ELIGIBILITY

  • Open to students currently enrolled in high school (or equivalent secondary education), generally ages 14-19, worldwide.
  • Organizers, judges, and their immediate family members are not eligible to compete for prizes.
  • Sponsor representatives may not be part of a competing team.

2. REGISTRATION

  • Registration is free and opens on August 28.
  • Each participant must register individually with accurate information.
  • Providing false information during registration may result in disqualification.

3. TEAMS

  • We highly recommend building in teams of 3-5, however there is no team requirement.
  • Team members do not need to attend the same school and may be located in different countries or timezones.
  • Use our Discord #looking-for-a-team channel if you need teammates.
  • Each participant may only be part of one team.

4. WHAT YOU CAN BUILD

  • Projects must be built during the official one week hacking period (October 16th to October 23rd, CST).
  • Ideation, research, and planning before the event are allowed; actual code, design assets, and content must be created during the event window.
  • Use of open-source libraries, frameworks, APIs, and AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT) is permitted and encouraged, but must be disclosed in your submission's written description.
  • Projects must be your team's own original work. Do not submit pre-existing projects, forks of substantially complete projects, or work copied from others without credit.
  • Projects must comply with the terms of service of any third-party API, platform, or tool used.

5. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

To be judged, teams must submit the following on Devpost by the deadline:

  • Project name and elevator pitch
  • Full written description, including a required answer to: "What is the specific problem, and how do you know it's real?"
  • A 2-3 minute demo video showing the project in action
  • A public code repository link (e.g., GitHub)

Late submissions will not be accepted or judged, except in cases of documented technical failure on Devpost's platform (contact organizers immediately if this occurs).

6. JUDGING

All eligible submissions go through three rounds:

Round 1 — AI Screening: Automated. Confirms submissions are complete.
Round 2 — Peer Judging: Selected student panel from partner schools/clubs. Scores submissions against the published rubric; top ~10 advance.
Round 3 — Final Round: Professional judges + student panelists. Reviews the same submitted materials in greater depth; selects Top 3 winners plus 2 category-specific awards.

The full judging rubric (Community Relevance, Impact Potential, Technical Execution, Creativity, Presentation & Clarity, Accessibility) is published on our website and will not change after the event begins.

Judging decisions are final and not subject to appeal, except in cases of a demonstrated rules violation by a winning team (see Section 9).

7. PRIZES

  • Prizes will be awarded to the Top 3 overall teams and 2 category-specific award winners, as described on our website/Devpost page.
  • The top 10 teams will also receive a finalist certificate.

8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  • Participants retain full ownership of the work they create.
  • By submitting, teams grant Neighborhood Hacks a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display, promote, and reference their project (name, description, screenshots, video) for event-related and promotional purposes.
  • Teams are responsible for ensuring they have the rights to any third-party assets, code, or content used in their submission.

9. DISQUALIFICATION

Neighborhood Hacks reserves the right to disqualify any team or individual for:

  • Violating this Code of Conduct
  • Submitting work that is not original or misrepresenting AI/third-party tool usage
  • Providing false registration information
  • Any form of cheating, plagiarism, or sabotage of another team

10. LIABILITY & ASSUMPTION OF RISK

  • Participation is voluntary. Neighborhood Hacks, its organizers, and sponsors are not liable for any technical issues, data loss, or damages arising from participation, except where prohibited by law.
  • Participants are responsible for their own equipment, internet access, and software during the event.
  • For any in-person or local meetup components (if applicable), a separate liability waiver will be required.

11. PRIVACY & DATA

  • Personal information collected during registration (name, email, age, location, guardian contact) is used solely for event administration and is not sold or shared with third parties beyond what's necessary to run the event (e.g., sponsor prize fulfillment, with participant consent).
  • Data handling complies with applicable privacy regulations, including COPPA (US) and GDPR-K provisions for minors, where relevant.

12. CHANGES TO RULES

Neighborhood Hacks reserves the right to amend these rules if necessary, and will communicate any changes clearly via Discord announcements and email prior to the event start. Material changes will not be made once the hacking period has begun.