Dates
March 8th-9th, 2025
Eligibility
Individuals, and teams of individuals, must have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry. Registration is limited to currently enrolled students at Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods. Teams can have up to 5 members (must have at least one programmer per team).
Project and Submission Requirements
- All code must be original and written during the hackathon. Open-source libraries (via npm, pip, etc.) are fine as long as they’re cited.
- AI-generated code is allowed, but teams need to debug and integrate it themselves. AI struggles with full systems, so relying on it too much can backfire.
- Teams must document AI use in their project submission. A quick note in the README about what AI tools were used and how the output was modified will be enough.
- No plagiarism or direct copying from existing projects. AI is a tool to assist, not to replace creativity and problem-solving.
Offical Rules
A big part of this year’s experience is collaborating in real time, problem-solving together, and learning from our in-person mentors who will be there to guide teams through challenges. All team members must be in-person for at leat 80% of the time and have discussed any absence prior to the competition with their team members. In the event of an emergency, the Hackathon Committee may adjust this rule. This rule may be also be adjusted at the discretion of the Hackathon organizer.
If a team member suddenly drops out of the competition or is absent for more than 20% of the scheduled time without prior exception, they will not be allowed to re-enter at a later time in the weekend or be eligible for prizes. The rest of the team will not be penalized.
Please respect our 12am-8am overnight break rule. You are allowed to brainstorm new ideas for Sunday (Day 2) and we love your enthusiasm but please do not push code between 12-8am. This rule may be adjusted at the discretion of the Hackathon organizer.
Please refer to the Official Ruleset of the Cal Poly Humboldt Hackathon for Social Good 2025 for more information.
Code of Conduct
By registering as a participant of the Hackathon for Social Good 2025 you agree to uphold the following code of conduct:
Our hackathon 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 hackathon venue, this includes the following:
- hacks
- talks, presentations, or demos
- workshops
- any parties associated to the hackathon
- social media
- any other online media
Hackathon participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the hackathon at the discretion of the hackathon organisers. If you Hackathon participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the hackathon at the discretion of the hackathon organisers.
Prizes
First Place: Each team member will have their choice of a prize equivalent to $150 (approximately) that will be shipped to a specified address.
Second Place: Each team member will have their choice of a prize equivalent to $100 (approximately) that will be shipped to a specified address.
Third Place: Each team member will have their choice of a prize equivalent to $50 (approximately) that will be shipped to a specified address.
Judging Criteria and Winner Selection
Please view this year's judging criteria here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bTEMoN00oViI6upCpfneE6z1E-dueLWN/view?usp=sharing