Dates and Times

  • Event Dates: August 1st - August 3rd, 2025
  • Hacking Starts: August 1st, 9:00 PM
  • Hacking Ends: August 3rd, 8:00 AM

Eligibility

  • Open to participants of all skill levels (must be 13+)
  • No prior experience required
  • Teams can be formed on-site or pre-formed

Project Guidelines:

  • Teams may have up to 4 hackers maximum. Smaller teams (even solo) are allowed, though we encourage forming full teams to maximize productivity.
  • Projects must be started and completed within the 36-hour period (from 8pm on Friday to 8am on Sunday). No coding or building is allowed before the official start time, but ideation beforehand is allowed.
  • Projects are automatically considered for the ‘Best Pitch’ and ‘Overall Solution’ categories. The other two categories are opt-in.
  • All submissions must be made only to the TerraHacks Devpost. Submitting to other hackathons will result in disqualification.
  • Each hacker may only be part of one project during the hackathon.
  • Public frameworks and libraries are allowed, but at least 80% of your code must be original and written by your team. Submitting only copied code will result in disqualification.
  • Judging will be in-person and expo-style — you must be present to qualify for prizes.

Submissions should include:

  • A project description and reflection
  • Source code, uploaded to a GitHub repository and linked in Devpost
  • A REQUIRED demo video (max 3 minutes)
  • All code must be uploaded before the submission deadline — projects with working demos but no uploaded code will be disqualified

Prizes

Our prize categories are yet to be revealed, and will be announced during the opening ceremony.

  • Grand Prize: Nintendo Switch for each team member of the winning team
  • Category 1 Prize: Legion Gaming Monitor for each team member of the winning team
  • Category 2 Prize: TheKapCo Keyboard Sets for each team member of the winning team
  • Category 3 Prize:  Apple Airpods 4th Generation for each team member of the winning team
  • MLH Prizes
  • Special Category Prizes: Various sponsor-specific awards
  • Mini-Event Prizes: Various mini-event prizes for participating and winning

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

The judging criteria will not be announced until the opening ceremony of TerraHacks, but some of the things we look for in a submission are:

  • Innovation: Originality and creativity of the idea
  • Impact: Potential to address real-world problems
  • Feasibility: Practicality and functionality of the solution
  • Technical Complexity: Use of technology and level of difficulty
  • Presentation: Quality and clarity of the demo and submission materials

Judges will review all submissions and select winners based on the criteria above. Winners will be announced during the closing ceremony on August 3rd.

Please review and abide by the MLH Code of Conduct when participating at TerraHacks!