Eligibility & Rules

JumboHack is open to all college students, welcoming participants from various backgrounds and skill levels. Those interested in competing in the beginner track must ensure that at least 75% of their team members are beginners, with a maximum completion of two introductory computer science courses. If your team plans to submit under this track, please verify your eligibility with an organizer during the event.

Project submissions will be accepted starting after the Opening Ceremonies on Saturday, February 21st, at 11:00 AM. The submission window will remain open until Sunday, February 22nd, at 4:15 PM. Once submissions close, the judging period will take place at 5:00 PM, with winners announced during the Closing Ceremonies that follows. Teams and their participants are required to be present during the duration of judging in order to be considered for prizes and winning accolades.

Please only submit project work that you've developed within the hackathon period shown above. This is an opportunity for you to build new skills and hack together something new with friends! Projects started prior to the start of the events are prohibited. LLMs are allowed, but: please cite in your README which parts of your code were written with an LLM. 

By adhering to these guidelines, all participants can fully engage in the creative and competitive spirit of JumboHack, making the event an exciting and rewarding experience for everyone involved.

Code of Conduct

By registering for and/or participating in JumboHack, you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct.

JumboHack is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of the following:

• 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

We do not tolerate harassment of hackathon participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate at any JumboHack venue, including

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

Participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the JumboHack at the discretion of the hackathon organisers.

All teams that submit a project and present to the judges are eligible for prizes. Members of the JumboHack executive board are ineligible to receive prizes. There will be one (1) winner for each judging track, determined by the highest-scoring submission within that track. Each track winner will receive a cash prize of $500 USD per team. 

Additionally, each of the five track winners will be evaluated in a final round of judging, where the overall winner will be selected and will be eligible to receive a cash prize of $1,000 USD in recognition of their achievement.

Each participating team must present their projects in a brief pitch to a number of judges during the judging period. Projects will be judged based on four key criteria: creativity, innovation, impact, and completeness. Creativity evaluates the novelty and uniqueness of the project, while innovation focuses on the use of technology and how it pushes boundaries. Impact considers the potential for real-world change within the chosen track and the user experience. Completeness assesses the overall effort and presentation of the project. Additionally, bonus points may be awarded for playing into our film noir detective theme. Scores from multiple judges will be aggregated and normalized to determine track winners. The winners of each track will then be evaluated using separate criteria during judge deliberation to select the overall winner of the hackathon. One overall winner and one winner per track will be recognized. Teams and their participants must be present at the event during the duration of the judging period in order to be in consideration for prizes and winning accolades. 

By adhering to these guidelines, all participants can fully engage in the creative and competitive spirit of JumboHack, making the event an exciting and rewarding experience for everyone involved.

If you have any questions about these rules or would like additional clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to the event organizers by emailing jumbohack@jumbohack.org or sending a message to @organizers in the JumboHack Slack.