STARKThe challenge
From zero to aworking product
Start with an idea. Build it with your team, in the open, under time pressure, and be able to show every step of how it happened.
- Team
- 2+
- Rules
- 6
- Judged on
- 5
- Starting code
- None
Once the hackathon begins, every team starts building their project from scratch. Every team must be able to demonstrate how their idea evolved, how they worked together, and how they turned an idea into a functioning product.
Teams of at least 2 get the chance to build something they genuinely believe should exist, and to show how the idea evolved, how they worked together, and how they turned it into a functioning product.
This hackathon tests more than coding skills. You'll be challenged on how you think, plan, and ship together under pressure.
Teams are judged on
- 01Ideation
- 02Implementation strategy
- 03Teamwork
- 04Creativity
- 05Building under pressure
No single criterion carries the round. A team that thinks clearly and ships honestly beats a team that only demos well.
How it is assessed
Three things you have to be able to show
Each one maps to something concrete you hand over: a document trail, a repository, and a running product.
- 01
Prove the thinking
Document the problem you picked, the routes you rejected, and why you landed where you did. The idea has to be traceable, not just presentable.
A document trail
- 02
Build it on the clock
Every project starts from scratch once the hackathon opens. Your commit history and changelogs are the record of what you actually built.
A repository
- 03
Ship something that runs
A demo has to work. Judges are looking at a functioning product, not a deck describing one.
A running product
Bring an idea worth building
Registration takes a couple of minutes. Building starts when the hackathon opens, not before.