AWS AI Hackathon Hong Kong Terms and Conditions

This AWS AI Hackathon Hong Kong (“Hackathon”) Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) contains the terms and conditions that govern your participation of the Hackathon. The Terms take effect when you click an “I Accept” button or check box presented with these terms or, if earlier, when you use submit any entry.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

THIS HACKATHON IS SUBJECT TO ALL FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAWS AND IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Timeline (Collectively “Hackathon Period”)

Briefing Session for Eligible Team: August 26th, 2025

Submission Period: August 15th – September 30th, 2025 (23:45 Hong Kong Time) (“Submission Period”)

Judging Period: October 2nd, 2025 – October 14th, 2025 (“Judging Period”)

Winners Announcement: October 16th, 2025

Administrator and Platform Provider

Sponsor and Administrator: Amazon Web Services Hong Kong Limited (“AWS”), 20/F, Tower 535, 535 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Platform Provider: Devpost, Inc. (“Devpost”), 222 Broadway, Floor 19, New York, NY 10038.

Eligibility

The Hackathon IS open to individuals who meet the following requirements(“Eligible Individuals”):

• Individuals who are at least the age of 18;
• Be a resident of Hong Kong SAR, or an employee of a Hong Kong company; and
• Excludes individuals living in Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Quebec, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and the region of Crimea.

Eligible participants must meet the residency or employment criteria at the time of application and maintain that status throughout the event.

To participate in the Hackathon, Eligible Individuals must form teams of minimum one and maximum four members each (“Team” and Eligible individuals are referred to as “Entrant” individually).

• The Hackathon IS NOT open to: Organizations involved with the design, production, paid promotion, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, including the Administrator  and Platform Provider (“Promotion Entities”).
• Employees, representatives, and agents of such Promotion Entities, and all members of their immediate family or household. Agents include individuals or organizations that in creating a Submission to the Hackathon, are acting on behalf of, and at the direction of, a Promotion Entity through a contractual or similar relationship.
• Any other individual involved with the design, production, promotion, execution, or distribution of the Hackathon, and each member of their immediate family or household. The members of an individual’s immediate family include the individual’s spouse, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents, and siblings and stepsiblings. The members of an individual’s household include any other person who shares the same residence as the individual for at least three (3) months out of the year.
• Any Judge (defined below), or company or individual that employs a Judge.
• Any affiliate of any organization described above. An affiliate is: (a) an organization that is under common control, sharing a common majority or controlling owner, or common management; or (b) an organization that has substantial ownership in, or is substantially owned by the other organization.
• Any other individual or organization whose participation in the Hackathon would create, in the sole discretion of the Administrator, a real or apparent conflict of interest

How To Enter

Entrants may enter by visiting aws-hong-kong-hackathon.devpost.com (“Hackathon Website”) and following the below steps:

1. Register for the Hackathon on the Hackathon Website by clicking the “Join Hackathon” button. To complete registration, sign up to create a free Devpost account, or log in with an existing Devpost account. This will enable you to receive important updates and to create your Submission.
2. Entrants will obtain access to the required platform and complete a Project (as defined below) described below in Project Requirements. Use of the developer tools will be subject to the license agreement related thereto. Entry in the Hackathon constitutes consent for Devpost to collect and maintain an Entrant’s personal information for the purpose of operating the Hackathon.
3. Sign up for an AWS Account by visiting https://aws.amazon.com/account and subscribe to Amazon Q Developer Pro Tier (“Amazon Q Developer”).
4. Complete and enter all of the required fields on the “Enter a Submission” page of the Hackathon Website (each a “Submission”) prior to the Submission Deadline and follow the requirements below.
5. Each registered participant will receive USD 25 in AWS Promotional Credits. Credits will be distributed via email to the participant's registered email address. It is limited to one promotional credit per participant. Credits are applicable to eligible AWS services as per AWS Promotional Credit Terms and Conditions.

If a Team is entering the Hackathon, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf. By entering a Submission on behalf of a Team you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your Team.

Project Requirements

What to Create: Entrants must develop solutions with Amazon Q Developer or Kiro to fit into one of the following themes (each a “Project”):

• Future of Retail – Revolutionize shipping experiences and retail operations;
• Smart Tourism – Enhance travel experiences and industry efficiency;
• F&B Innovation – Optimize food service operations and customer experiences;
• FinTech Evolution – Create solutions across Web3, cryptocurrency, and traditional finance
• Freestyle – Any innovative projects that do not fall into any of the categories above

Functionality: The Project must be capable of being successfully installed and running consistently on the platform for which it is intended and must function as depicted in the video and/or expressed in the text description.

Platforms: A submitted Project must run on the platform for which it is intended, and which is specified in the Submission Requirements.

Third-Party Integrations: If a Project integrates any third-party SDK, APIs, and/or data, Team/Entrant/Representative represents and warrants that they are authorized to use them in accordance with any terms and conditions or licensing requirements of the tool.

New & Existing: Projects must be either newly created by the Entrant or, if the Entrant’s Project existed prior to the Hackathon Submission Period, must have been significantly updated after the start of the Hackathon Submission Period. Entrants should explain how their Project was significantly updated during the Submission Period.

Submission Requirements

Submissions to the Hackathon must meet the following requirements:

• Must develop the solution using Amazon Q Developer or Kiro and comply with all Project Requirements stated above.
• Must include a text description that explains how you used Amazon Q Developer or Kiro, the features, functionality, and the intended purpose of your Project.
• Should include a demonstration video of your Project. The video portion of the Submission:
  • should be less than three (3) minutes; Judges are not required to watch beyond three minutes
  • must be uploaded to a platform such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook Video, or Youku, and a viewable link to the video must be provided on the submission form on the Hackathon Website; and
  • must not include third-party trademarks, or copyrighted music or other material unless the Entrant has permission to use such material.
• Must Provide a public link to source code repository.
•  Optional: Provide a link to your prototype

Submission ownership: Be the original work of the Entrant, be solely owned by the Entrant, and not violate the IP rights of any other person or entity.

Language Requirements: All Submission materials must be in English or, if not in English, the Entrant must provide an English translation of the demonstration video, text description, and testing instructions as well as all other materials submitted.

Team Representation: If a team or organization is entering the Hackathon, they must appoint and authorize one individual (the “Representative”) to represent, act, and enter a Submission, on their behalf. The Representative must meet the eligibility requirements above. By entering a Submission on the Hackathon Website on behalf of a team or organization you represent and warrant that you are the Representative authorized to act on behalf of your team or organization.

Intellectual Property:

Your Submission must: (a) be your (or your Team’s) original work product; (b) be solely owned by you, your Team with no other person or entity having any right or interest in it; and (c) not violate the intellectual property rights or other rights including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent, contract, and/or privacy rights, of any other person or entity.

An Entrant may contract with a third party for technical assistance to create the Submission provided the Submission components are solely the Entrant’s work product and the result of the Entrant’s ideas and creativity, and the Entrant owns all rights to them. An Entrant may submit a Submission that includes the use of open-source software or hardware, provided the Entrant complies with applicable open-source licenses and, as part of the Submission, creates software that enhances and builds upon the features and functionality included in the underlying open-source product. By entering the Hackathon, you represent, warrant, and agree that your Submission meets these requirements.

Financial or Preferential Support:

A Project must not have been developed, or derived from a Project developed, with financial or preferential support from the Administrator or Platform Provider. Such Projects include, but are not limited to, those that received funding or investment for their development, were developed under contract, or received a commercial license, from the Administrator or Platform Provider any time prior to the Submission Deadline. The Administrator, at their sole discretion, may disqualify a Project, if awarding a prize to the Project would create a real or apparent conflict of interest.

Submission Modifications

Draft Submissions: Prior to the Submission Deadline, you may save draft versions of your submission on Devpost to your portfolio before submitting the Submission materials to the Hackathon for evaluation. Once the Submission Deadline has passed, you may not make any changes or alterations to your Submission, but you may continue to update the Project in your Devpost portfolio.

Modifications: After the Submission Period. The Sponsor and Devpost may permit you to modify part of your Submission after the Submission Period for the purpose of adding, removing or replacing material that potentially infringes a third party mark or right, discloses personally identifiable information, or is otherwise inappropriate. The modified Submission must remain substantively the same as the original Submission with the only modification being what the Sponsor and Devpost permits.

Judges & Criteria

Eligible submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by the Administrator (the “Judges”). Judges may be employees of the Administrator  or third parties, may or may not be listed individually on the Hackathon Website, and may change before or during the Judging Period. Judging may take place in one or more rounds with one or more panels of Judges, at the discretion of the Administrator .

Stage One) The first stage will determine via pass/fail whether the ideas meet a baseline level of viability, in that the Project reasonably fits the theme and reasonably applies the required APIs/SDKs featured in the Hackathon.

Stage Two) All Submissions that pass Stage One will be evaluated in Stage Two based on the following equally-weighted criteria (the “Judging Criteria”): Submissions will be judged on the following equally-weighted criteria, and according to the sole and absolute discretion of the judges:

• Business Value & Use Case
  • Does the submission demonstrate a clear problem-solution fit? Does the solution show potential impact and scalability? Will the project inspire other users to create creative and entertaining projects?
• Implementation
  • How effective were Amazon Q Developer / Kiro used during development / optimization of the project? Is it well-built, functional, and polished from a technical standpoint?
• Innovation & Originality
  • How unique and innovative is the project concept? Does the project demonstrate a novel approach to solving the problem? Has the submission leveraged the provided technologies in creative and/or compelling ways?

The scores from the Judges will determine the potential winners of the applicable prizes. The Entrant(s) that are eligible for a Prize, and whose Submissions earn the highest overall scores based on the applicable Judging Criteria, will become potential winners of that Prize.

Tie Breaking: For the Prize listed below, if two or more Submissions are tied, the tied Submission with the highest score in the first applicable criterion listed above will be considered the higher-scoring Submission. In the event any ties remain, this process will be repeated, as needed, by comparing the tied Submissions’ scores on the next applicable criterion. If two or more Submissions are tied on all applicable criteria, the panel of Judges will vote on the tied Submissions.

Intellectual Property Rights

All Submissions remain the intellectual property of the individuals or organizations that developed them. Other Submission materials may be viewed by the Administrator, Devpost, and judges for screening and evaluation. By submitting an entry or accepting any prize, entrants represent and warrant that (a) the Submission is not copyrighted, protected by trade secret, or otherwise subject to third-party intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless Entrant is the owner of such rights or has permission from their rightful owner to post the content; and (b) the Submission does not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware or other disabling devices or harmful or malicious code.

Prizes

Winner Prize: Economy Flight ticket (From HK to Las Vegas), 5-night accommodation (November 30th to December 5th) & Admission Ticket to AWS re:Invent In Las Vegas to all the eligible team members of the winning team. Winning Team is responsible for securing appropriate travel documentation, including but not limited to valid passports and necessary visas or travel permits required for entering the United States to attend AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, and should cover fees and costs not included in the Winning Prize. The Administrator or Platform provider is not responsible for any visa application outcomes, delays, or denials, and cannot guarantee entry into the United States.

Participation Prize: Each Eligible Individual who registers and actively participates in the Hackathon with a valid hackathon project that receives approval from the judge panel shall be entitled to receive one AWS  souvenir as a participation award, choice of AWS t-shirts or AWS premium pickle ball set, subject to availability. Eligibility criteria for participants are as determined by the Administrator. The total number of AWS souvenirs reserved for distribution as participation awards is limited to five hundred (500) units. Once the reserved quantity is exhausted, no further participation awards will be granted.

Substitutions & Changes: Prizes and participation prizes are non-transferable by the winner. Administrator in its sole discretion has the right to make a prize substitution of equivalent or greater value. Administrator will not award a prize if there are no eligible Submissions entered in the Hackathon, or if there are no Entrants or Submissions for a specific prize.

Verification Requirement: THE AWARD OF A PRIZE TO A POTENTIAL WINNER IS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION OF THE IDENTITY, QUALIFICATIONS AND ROLE OF THE POTENTIAL WINNER IN THE CREATION OF THE SUBMISSION. No Submission or Entrant shall be deemed a winning Submission or winner until their post-competition prize affidavits have been completed and verified, even if prospective winners have been announced verbally or on the competition website. The final decision to designate a winner shall be made by the Administrator.

By accepting the prize of the Hackathon, you confirm that your receipt is neither prohibited nor inconsistent with any applicable laws, regulations, or binding orders, including applicable ethics or procurement rules or policies, your receipt will not create a conflict of interest for AWS or its affiliates, and there are no on-going competitive procurements for which your receipt of this benefit could conflict  Administrator or its affiliates from participating in the competition. By receiving the prize of the Hackathon, neither Administrator nor its affiliates have any expectation of favorable or otherwise beneficial treatment, and the prize is not intended to reward or influence any business activity or competitive bid and is offered independently of any past, current or prospective commercial transaction.

Prize Announcement & Winner Obligations

The winners of the hackathon will be announced at the AWS Innovate Online Conference, scheduled to take place on October 16, 2025. Winners are required to participate in various promotional activities including but not limited to project showcases, interview sessions with AWS representatives, case study development, and media interviews. The winning projects will receive significant exposure across multiple AWS platforms, including the AWS official website, AWS Blog, social media channels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook), press releases, media coverage, AWS customer success stories, and various AWS events and conferences.
As part of the winner's journey, team representative(s) will be invited to participate in two key interview sessions: an initial interview following the winner announcement in October 2024, and a follow-up interview during AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. These interviews will provide winners with valuable opportunities to showcase their innovative solutions and share their success stories with the global AWS community. Additional promotional activities may be arranged based on mutual agreement between AWS and the winning team. Winners are expected to provide project materials and documentation as requested, and grant AWS permission to use project details, team information, and related content for promotional purposes. Failure to participate in the two required interviews may affect prize eligibility.

Prize Delivery:

Prizes will be payable to the Entrant’s Representative of a Team. It will be the responsibility of the winning Team’s Representative to allocate the Prize among their Team’s participating members, as the Representative deems appropriate. A monetary Prize will be mailed to the winning Entrant’s address (if an individual) or the Representative’s address (if a Team or Organization), or sent electronically to the Entrant, Team’s Representative, or Organization’s bank account, only after receipt of the completed winner affidavit and other required forms (collectively the “Required Forms”), if applicable . The deadline for returning the Required Forms to the Administrator is ten (10) business days after the Required Forms are sent. Failure to provide correct information on the Required Forms, or other correct information required for the delivery of a Prize, may result in delayed Prize delivery, disqualification of the Entrant, or forfeiture of a Prize. Prizes will be delivered within 60 days of the Administrator or Devpost’s receipt of the completed Required Forms.  

Fees & Taxes:

Winners (and in the case of Team, all participating members) are responsible for any fees associated with receiving or using a prize, including but not limited to, wiring fees, visa application fees or currency exchange fees. Winners (and in the case of Team or Organization, all participating members) are responsible for reporting and paying all applicable taxes in their jurisdiction of residence (federal, state/provincial/territorial, and local). Winners may be required to provide certain information to facilitate receipt of the award, including completing and submitting any tax or other forms necessary for compliance with applicable withholding and reporting requirements. United States residents may be required to provide a completed form W-9 and residents of other countries may be required to provide a completed W-8BEN form. Winners are also responsible for complying with foreign exchange and banking regulations in their respective jurisdictions and reporting the receipt of the Prize to relevant government departments/agencies, if necessary. The Administrator, Devpost, and/or Prize provider reserves the right to withhold a portion of the prize amount to comply with the tax laws of the United States or other Administrator jurisdiction, or those of a winner’s jurisdiction.

Publicity

By submitting the Submission, You, individually and on behalf of the Team members of which you are a Representative (if applicable), grant the Administrator/Platform Provider and their respective affiliates, agents, employees, and assigns an irrevocable, nonexclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free right and license to promote and display the Entrant’s Submission, and to the use personal information about you and team members for promotional purposes. Such personal information includes but not limited to the name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, comments, and hometown and country of residence. It may be used in any existing or newly created media, worldwide without further payment or consideration or right of review, unless prohibited by law. Authorized use includes but not limited to advertising and promotional purposes.

General Conditions:

1. The Administrator reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Hackathon, or any part of it, in the event of a technical failure, fraud, or any other factor or event that was not anticipated or is not within their control.
2. The Administrator reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any Entrant if it finds to be actually or presenting the appearance of tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Hackathon or to be acting in violation of these Terms or in a manner that is inappropriate, unsportsmanlike, not in the best interests of this Hackathon, or a violation of any applicable law or regulation.
3. Any attempt by any Entrant to undermine the proper conduct of the Hackathon may be a violation of criminal and civil law. Should the Administrator or Platform Provider suspect that such an attempt has been made or is threatened, they reserve the right to take appropriate action including but not limited to requiring an Entrant to cooperate with an investigation and referral to criminal and civil law enforcement authorities.
4. If there is any discrepancy or inconsistency between the Terms and disclosures or other statements contained in any Hackathon materials, including but not limited to the Hackathon Submission form, Hackathon Website, or advertising, the Terms shall prevail.
5. The Terms are subject to change at any time, including the rights or obligations of the Entrant, the Administrator, and Platform Provider. The Administrator and Platform Provider will post the amended Terms on the Hackathon Website. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any amendment will become effective at the time specified in the posting of the amended Terms or, if no time is specified, the time of posting.
6. If at any time prior to the Submission Deadline, an Entrant or prospective Entrant believes that any term in the Terms is or may be ambiguous, they must submit a written request for clarification.
7. The Administrator or Platform Provider’s failure to enforce any term of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Should any provision of these Terms be or become illegal or unenforceable in any jurisdiction whose laws or regulations may apply to an Entrant, such illegality or unenforceability shall leave the remainder of these Terms, including the Rule affected, to the fullest extent permitted by law, unaffected and valid. The illegal or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision that comes closest and best reflects the Administrator’s intention in a legal and enforceable manner with respect to the invalid or unenforceable provision.
8. Excluding Submissions, all intellectual property related to this Hackathon, including but not limited to copyrighted material, trademarks, tradenames, logos, designs, promotional materials, web pages, source codes, drawings, illustrations, slogans and representations are owned or used under license by the Administrator and/or Platform Provider. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized copying or use of any copyrighted material or intellectual property without the express written consent of its owners is strictly prohibited. Any use in a Submission of Administrator or Platform Provider’s intellectual property shall be solely to the extent provided for in these Terms.
9. You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Administrator/Platform Provider, and their respective affiliates and licensors, and each of their respective employees, officers, directors, and representatives from and against any Losses arising out of or relating to any third-party claim concerning (a) breach of the Terms or violation of applicable law by you or the Submission;  (b) alleging that any of the Submission infringes or misappropriates that third party’s intellectual property rights; or (c) property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to a Entrant’s entry, creation of Submission or entry of a Submission, participation in the Hackathon, acceptance or use or misuse of the Prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of the Submission as authorized or licensed by these Terms. You will reimburse Administrator for reasonable attorneys’ fees, as well as our employees’ and contractors’ time and materials spent responding to any third-party subpoena or other compulsory legal order or process associated with third party claims described in (a) through (c) above at our then-current hourly rates.
10. The Administrator are not responsible for incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, lost, illegible, or incomprehensible Submissions or for address or email address changes of the Entrants. Proof of sending or submitting the aforementioned will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by the Administrator or Platform Provider. If for any reason any Entrant’s Submission is determined to have not been received or been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the Entrant’s sole remedy is to request the opportunity to resubmit its Submission. Such a request must be made promptly after the Entrant knows or should have known there was a problem and will be determined at the sole discretion of the Administrator.
    
    Without limiting the foregoing, the Event Host shall have no liability in connection with:
    1. Any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by the Administrator or Platform Provider’s electronic or printing error, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Hackathon;
    2. Technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines, internet connectivity or electronic transmission errors, or network hardware or software or failure of the Hackathon Website;
    3. Unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Hackathon;
    4. Technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Hackathon or the processing of Submissions; or
    5. Any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from the Entrant’s participation in the Hackathon or receipt or use or misuse of any Prize.

Additional Terms

Please review the Devpost Terms of Service at https://info.devpost.com/terms for additional rules that apply to your participation in the Hackathon and more generally your use of the Hackathon Website. Such Terms of Service are incorporated by reference into these Terms, including that the term "Poster" in the Terms of Service shall mean the same as " Platform Provider " in these Terms." If there is a conflict between the Terms of Service and these Terms, these Terms shall control with respect to this Hackathon only.

Entrant’s Personal Information

Information collected from Entrants is subject to Devpost’s Privacy Policy, which is available at https://info.devpost.com/privacy. You, individually and on behalf of the Team members of which you are a Representative (if applicable),  agree that the personal information of you and Team members might be shared with Administrator  for the purpose of operating the Hackathon.
For questions, send an email to aws-hk-hackathon@amazon.com