PatriotHacks Fall 2025 is a 60-hour, fully online hackathon where college students from any major team up to build real solutions with a focus on Startups and AI Integration. We keep things simple and flexible so you can create your best work, no travel, no hassle, just building.

  • Who can join: College students worldwide (solo or teams of up to 4)

  • Format: Asynchronous, online

  • Build window: Nov 14–16, 2025 (U.S. ET)

    • Kickoff livestream: Fri, Nov 14 @ 9:00 a.m. ET

    • Submissions due: Sun, Nov 16 @ 10:00 p.m. ET

  • Judging: Nov 18–19, 2025 (asynchronous)

  • Results: Nov 20–21, 2025 (livestream + announcements)

  • Tracks:

    • Startup — venture-first ideas with clear users, value prop, and path to market

    • AI Integration — smart, ethical AI applied to real problems

Questions? 

Email patriothacksgmu@gmail.com or

Harun Khan (harunkkhan1@gmail.com) or Zachary Suh (suhzach4@gmail.com)

Requirements

Submit on our official project portal by the deadline (Sun, Nov 16 @ 10:00 p.m. ET). One submission per team.

1) Project Page (Devpost)

Include:

  • Project title & short tagline

  • Problem & who it affects (the “why”)

  • Your solution (what you built and what it does)

  • How it works (system overview, user flow)

  • Tech stack (frameworks, APIs, models, datasets)

  • Challenges, learnings, and next steps

  • Team members (names, roles, school)

2) Demo Video (2-3 minutes)

3) Code & Assets

  • Public repo link (GitHub/GitLab) with a clear README

    • setup/run instructions

    • architecture diagram or brief technical overview

    • licenses for any third-party assets or datasets

  • If your app isn’t easily runnable, provide a recorded flow or hosted demo link.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

3 non-cash prizes
Tour of Microsoft Reston
2 winners

Huge thank you to Microsoft providing this prize!

Interview of Project from YC Founders
1 winner

Get your hack interviewed by current YC Founders.

Techno Basket
1 winner

Razer keyboard, jbl speaker, and (2) alexas

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Jeremy suh

Jeremy suh
Cofounder of Browser Buddy (YC 24)

Arnav Wahdehra

Arnav Wahdehra
Cofounder of Browser Buddy (YC 24)

Krishna Kandi

Krishna Kandi
Senior SWE at Convoke

Rohit Tewari

Rohit Tewari
Sr. Application and Data Architect at Unisys

Alexandra Todericiu

Alexandra Todericiu
Senior Technical Program Manager at Microsoft

Rafiuddin Syed

Rafiuddin Syed
Director of Engineering at Drako Motors

Sneha Tuli
Principal Product Manager at Microsoft

Mitchell Ly

Mitchell Ly
Principal Program Manager at Microsoft

John Doe
Founder of Doe

Judging Criteria

  • Innovation of Solution
    Evaluates how novel and ambitious the technology or architecture is, including creativity, technical depth, integration of APIs/models, and effective use of tools like Azure or Microsoft AI.
  • People Impact
    Assesses how meaningfully the solution improves real users’ lives. Judges look for a clearly defined problem, strong user benefit, and evidence the idea can grow into a viable, impactful product or business.
  • Quality of Presentation
    Measures how clearly and confidently the team explains the problem, solution, and value. Judges look for clarity, structure, storytelling, and the ability to make the project easy to understand.
  • Quality of Final Project
    Evaluates how well the prototype or code works and whether it behaves as expected. Judges look for working features, realistic implementation, added value beyond existing solutions, and potential for continued development.
  • Teamwork & Collaboration
    Assesses how well the team worked together. Judges look for shared contributions, cross-skill collaboration, collective decision-making, problem solving, and clear articulation of each member’s role, plus thoughtful reflections and next-step plans.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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