That said, there are restrictions/ recommendations related to team formation, listed below:
- Each hackathon team must include at least one student currently enrolled in high school, college or a university. This is not a competition for professional hacking teams.
- In the spirit of the above, each team must also have at least one participant that is a relative newbie, meaning it is their first or second Devpost hackathon. We can help pair folks if needed & will have opportunities before and during the hackathon to connect people who do not have a set team, including via our Slack channel & a match-making event on Friday, December 2nd.
- Each team must also have between two to five members. Folks are encouraged to connect with potential teammates via our Slack channel (TBA shortly), Devpost or at the match-making event noted with the point above. Note that the prize pool will stay the same regardless of team size.
- Project submissions must be original and not developed to a significant extent in the past. In particular, please do not submit something from an old hackathon or similar innovation contest.
- Most types of "innovation" are eligible at this hackathon, including by not limited to coded apps, engineering designs, white papers, new ways of organizing people, white papers, proposals for policy interventions or more. The organizers may reach out for more.
- With all the above, please note that organizers do have final say around eligibility and may show some flexibility around rules where merited, with our goal to maintain the spirit of this being an event that is focused on education, climate action and creating an inclusive environment for all (and in particular beginner hackathoners). It's colloboration first, above competition!
As with all of our other stuff, some of the eligibility criteria may be amended as we see what different kinds of folks join our hackathon, but hope the spirit of it all is at least clear! If you do have questions, please reach out to us @ theoatheproject@gmail.com.