May 22–23, 2026

• Friday, May 22, 2026: Opening Ceremony (10 AM), Hacking Begins (11 AM)
• Saturday, May 23, 2026: Submissions Due and Presentations Begin (12 PM), Awards (4 PM)

Open to everyone. No restrictions on age, location, skill level, or affiliation.

Note: at least one team member must be able to present in person at 12 PM on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Projects without an in-person presenter will not be considered.

Teams

• Teams of 1 to 4 people.

Code

• All code must be written starting 11 AM Friday, May 22, 2026. Pre-existing project code beyond standard frameworks, libraries, and boilerplate will be flagged.
• Project repositories must be public and accessible to judges.
• Commit history will be reviewed.

Track Selection

• Each project must be submitted to one of two tracks: Production Track or Experimental Track.
• Projects must adhere to their chosen track's theme. Theme adherence is binary. Either the project fits the theme or it does not.

Submission

• All projects must be submitted through Devpost by 12 PM Saturday, May 23, 2026.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Submissions must include: link to public repository, project description, and images (screenshots, demos, or photos of hardware).

Presentation

• At least one team member must present the project in person at 12 PM on Saturday, May 23.
• Projects without an in-person presenter will not be considered, regardless of Devpost submission status.

Conduct

• No profanity in projects, repositories, presentations, or submissions.

Two prize tracks, with one winning team per track. Each track has four prizes, one for each member of a four-person winning team.

• CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 RAM 16GB
• Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB SSD
• Acer Nitro 27" QHD Gaming Monitor
• Edifier MR4 Powered Studio Monitor Speakers

• Glorious Model O Wireless Gaming Mouse
• Apple AirPods 4
• FUDONI 1080P Projector with WiFi and Bluetooth
• Elgato Wave:3 USB Condenser Microphone

Projects will be evaluated by a panel of judges using the official judging rubric, available in the Discord #information channel and at the event.

On Theme Adherence

There is no "adherence to theme" scoring criterion this year. Theme adherence is binary, not a spectrum. Projects that do not adhere to their chosen track's theme will not be eligible to win in that track.

Judging Process

• Judging begins at 12 PM Saturday, May 23, immediately after submissions close.
• At least one team member must present in person. Teams without an in-person presenter will not be considered.
• Scores will be finalized by 3 PM.
• Winners will be announced at the Closing Ceremony at 4 PM.

Winner Selection

• One winning team per track.
• Judges' decisions are final.