Theme
There is no required theme for projects at Hack Western 12. You are free to build anything you’d like. For inspiration and tips, check out our Hacker Starter Pack.

General Rules

  1. Teams may have up to 4 members.

  2. Teams should consist only of students or recent graduates (within one year) who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or otherwise in a privileged role at the event.

  3. All team members should be present at the event. Leaving temporarily is okay, but hacking should primarily take place on site.

  4. Teams may receive advice and mentorship from organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and mentors.

  5. All work on the project must be done during the hackathon.

  6. You may start with an idea you had before the event, but actual development must begin after hacking starts.

  7. Projects do not need to be completely original. Teams may work on ideas similar to existing ones and will be judged on execution and quality.

  8. Teams may use open-source libraries, frameworks, and public code. Pre-writing significant code before the event for use at the hackathon is not allowed.

  9. When hacking ends, teams must stop coding. Small bug fixes are allowed, but no new features may be added.

  10. Projects must follow the Hack Western Code of Conduct.

  11. Teams may be disqualified at the organizers’ discretion for rule violations, Code of Conduct violations, or unsportsmanlike behavior.

Qualifications
Projects must be built during the Hack Western 12 weekend.
Hacking begins at 9:00 PM on Friday, November 21, 2025 and ends at 9:00 AM on Sunday, November 23, 2025.
All code must be written within this timeframe, except for open-source libraries and publicly available code. Projects worked on outside this timeframe may be disqualified from judging.

Devpost Submission
All teams must submit their project on Devpost to qualify for judging and prizes.
Submission deadline: Sunday, November 23 at 9:00 AM.
Submissions cannot be edited after the deadline. Please finalize all details before submitting.

Demos
Teams will demo their projects after hacking ends. Focus on showing what you built rather than giving a formal pitch.
Even if your project is incomplete, demo your progress and what you learned. You will still receive the MLH “I Demoed” sticker.
If something doesn’t work during your demo, explain what you attempted and what you discovered.

Judging
The Hack Western 12 Demo Fair will take place from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM on Sunday. You will receive a table number for setup.
Judging is expo-style. Your judging is complete once two organizers and sponsor representatives (based on the prize tracks you opted into) have visited your table.
After your judging is complete, you may explore other projects, network, eat lunch, and participate in activities.
When submitting on Devpost, select the sponsor prize tracks you want to be considered for. Further judging details will be shared in Slack on Sunday.