Dates

Friday, September 18th, to Sunday, September 20th, 2026. Hacking runs from 9:00 PM on Friday to 8:45 AM on Sunday.

General Rules

• YOU MUST ATTEND HOPHACKS IN PERSON TO WORK ON A PROJECT FOR SUBMISSION. Your team must also present the project in person.
• Start fresh. Projects should be begun at HopHacks, and your first commit must come after hacking starts. Third-party APIs, libraries, and frameworks are welcome, as long as every other team could use them too.
• Your work must be your own. Copying or taking another team's source code is grounds for disqualification.
• The judges' decisions on all prizes and awards are final.
• Please follow all instructions from HopHacks organizers throughout the event.
• All participants are expected to follow the MLH Code of Conduct.

Eligibility

• HopHacks is open to currently enrolled college and university students who are 18 or older.
• Teams can have up to 4 members.

Project and Submission Requirements

• All submissions MUST be made on Devpost before hacking ends at 9 AM on Sunday, September 20th.
• Submissions must include a GitHub link to the repo containing your source code. Your first commit must be AFTER the start of hacking, and your last commit must be BEFORE the end of hacking.
• Add all of your teammates to your project submission.
• All submissions must be presented IN PERSON at HopHacks.

Prizes

• All teams are automatically considered for the Best Overall Hack prizes.
• Each team can ONLY apply for 1 track. If you select more than one track prize, your project may not be considered for any of them.
• Each team can apply for as many branded (opt-in) prizes as they like, as long as the project meets each prize's requirements.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

All presentations are IN-PERSON at HopHacks, conducted science-fair style for all tracks and branded prizes.

After the judges determine the overall Top 10 from the Science Fair, teams will be invited back to demo to determine the Top 3 hacks for the general prize.