Dates

You must have your team registered on Devpost by 11:00pm on Saturday 11/16. You will be able to edit your post and add your project up until the final deadline.

Final Submissions are due at 12:00 PM on Sunday 11/17. Submissions are only through Devpost.

Eligibility

We follow the MLH rules, MLH Code of Conduct, and UTD Code of Conduct.

Directors, Organizers, Volunteers, Mentors, Sponsors, Vendors, and anyone affiliated with operations behind HackUTD are NOT eligible to submit a project. 

All projects must be started at HackUTD. Prior ideas are fine, but no pre-existing projects. Any use of AI to write code will be investigated and are subject to disqualification. AI can aid the creation of your project but you cannot submit a fully AI-generated project.

Maximum Team Size of 4 for prizes. No exceptions will be made. All Team members must be added to the Devpost submission in order to recieve prizes.

Projects must be submitted on or before the Sunday, November 17 @ 12:00pm deadline. This is a HARD stop and submissions after this time will NOT be considered.

Project and Submission Rules

Any violation of these rules will result in immediate disqualification of your team and project

  • 4 hackers maximum per team (anything less including 1 is okay but we encourage finding a full team as you can get a lot more done with 4 people!)
  • Only submit to HackUTD — projects that submit to other hackathons will be disqualified
  • All code must be uploaded BEFORE the deadline and linked to Devpost — project demos with a working product yet have no code uploaded will be disqualified
  • Public frameworks and libraries are allowed, but submitting only copied code will result in project disqualification
  • Each hacker is only allowed to be a part of and create one project during this hackathon
  • If you use public frameworks or libraries, you must credit them in the README.md file and clearly distinguish your contributions.
  • There is no limit on the number of challenges you can submit to, but keep in mind that you should focus on one or a small set of challenges to maximize your chances of winning!
  • Anything presented at judging should only be worked on from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday.
    • There should be no coding or building before noon on Saturday.
    • However you can ideate beforehand with your team!
  • Judging will be in-person expo-style; you must be present at judging to qualify for a prize.
  • You can only submit to a maximum of 2 sponsor challenge statements! (But you can submit to as many non-sponsor tracks as you want). Any challenge with [MLH] at the start does not count towards this limit.

Prizes

To win prizes you must demo your project during judging and at closing ceremony to accept your prize. If there an extenuating circumstances and one of your team members is not there to demo your project or not present at closing ceremony, we can mail them their prize.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Judging will be expo/science fair style. Your project will be viewed by 1 or more judges, depending on how many tracks you are submitting to.

You will be judged on the following criteria:

Innovation and Creativity

How unique or original is the project idea? Does it present a new solution to a problem or use technology in an unexpected way? We will reward creative problem-solving, novel applications of technology, or fresh takes on common issues.

Technical Complexity

How technically challenging is the project? Did the team push the boundaries with complex algorithms, integrations, or hardware? We will consider factors like code structure, technical depth, and ambitious implementations. For beginner hackathons, focus on skills learned rather than pure complexity.

Completeness

Does the project work as intended? Are there any major bugs or broken features?

Design

How user-friendly and visually appealing is the project? Is the interface intuitive and easy to navigate? Your app should reflect that you put thought into accessibility, layout, visual design, and the intuitiveness of the user journey.

Impact

Does the project address a real problem, and could it be used in a real-world context? How impactful could it be? More points if your project has potential beyond HackUTD. Solve a meaningful problem or have a clear target audience.

Presentation

How well did the team communicate their project and its purpose? Did they clearly explain the problem, solution, and technical choices? Points are awarded for clarity, confidence, and storytelling. Bonus for engaging demos that effectively showcase the project’s functionality and value.