Eligibility:

Must be an Undergraduate or Graduate student. We are currently accepting applications on our website on a rolling basis until we reach our maximum capacity before the hackathon date. Only those who were accepted and confirmed their acceptances are guaranteed to participate. If you are waitlisted, we also offer walk-ins on the day of the event. You will be rejected at the door if you did not apply at all.

Project and Submission Requirements

1. A 2-minute demo/showcase of your project
2. Live presentation to various judges

Prizes:

• 3 Primary Tracks: One $100 Amazon Gift Card per person in each winning team
• Rogue Track: Soundcore by Anker Q20i Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones (white/black) will be awarded to each member of the winning team of the Rogue Track.
• Side Challenges: You can also opt in to win side challenge prizes on top of the main track prizes. (Described below.)

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

- Main tracks: Judges will follow criteria as listed within the judging criteria on Devpost. 2 Finalists will be selected per main track, and a single winning team will be selected per track. All teams must register for a main track in order to compete. 

- To be considered for the Coder side challenge, opt in during project submission and adhere to these challenge topics and rules:

• Theme (Coder for Good Challenge): Build a solution that makes technology more inclusive, focusing on an accessibility need.
• Requirements: Use Coder to build, test, and collaborate on your solution. Ground your project in documented needs, ensure your own project is accessible, and present a working project with a short demo, impact summary, and a plan for what comes next.
• Judging Criteria: Impact and Purpose, Technical Innovation, User Experience & Design, and Project Completion.
• Prizes: 1st place wins a Coder education license, a tech prize, and a donation to an accessibility/disability non-profit of the team's choosing. 2nd place wins a Coder education license.

- To be considered for the TypeSense side challenge, opt in during project submission and adhere to these challenge topics and rules:

• Theme ("Best Use of Search with Typesense" Challenge): Demonstrate the most creative and intuitive way of using search technology to its full capacity.
• Requirements: Build a project that meaningfully integrates Typesense for open-ended search applications (such as searching songs, photos, or other information). Teams in any main track can participate.
• Judging Criteria: Creativity, Implementation, and Usefulness. 
• Prizes: The winning team will receive $1,500 total in Typesense Cloud credits.

- To be considered for the Chert side challenge, opt in during project submission and adhere to these challenge topics and rules:

• Theme ("Best Use of FaceTime"): Build an AI agent that becomes more useful when it can see.   
• Requirements: Use the Chert FaceTime API to have your agent join a FaceTime call, see through the camera, show things on screen, and call you. (iMessage integration is optional).   
• Judging Criteria: Fresh use of FaceTime video (this counts double for scoring), wow factor, and usefulness in solving a real problem.   
• Prizes: 1st place receives $400 and guaranteed SWE interviews for the Chert Fellowship to work at a YC company.
• Note: Be sure to check out the Chert Workshop on Friday, November 13th, from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. 

Code of Conduct

Hackers are expected to follow the MLH Code of Conduct. Any violation of these rules will result in disqualification.

• gender
• gender identity and expression
• age
• sexual orientation
• disability
• physical appearance
• body size
• race
• ethnicity
• nationality
• religion
• political views
• previous hackathon attendance or lack of
• computing experience or lack of
• chosen programming language or tech stack

• hacks
• talks, presentations, or demos
• workshops
• any parties associated to the hackathon
• social media
• any other online media