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Competition Rules

These are standard competition rules used at TAMU Datathon. If you have a suggestion for these rules or a question about them, please feel free to contact a TD Organizer.

The spirit of the competition​

Remember that hackathons are like marathons. Some people go to compete but most people take part to better themselves and have fun. Whatever the reason is you're at a hackathon, make sure you're upholding the hacker spirit by helping others and having fun.

The rules of the competition​

  1. The maximum team size is 4.
  2. Teams should be made up exclusively of students who are not organizers, volunteers, judges, sponsors, or in any other privileged position at the event.
  3. All team members should be present at the event (in-person). Leaving the venue for some time to hack elsewhere is fine.
  4. Teams can of course gain advice and support from organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and others.
  5. All work on a project should be done at the datathon.
  6. Your project must only be submitted to one challenge. However you can make multiple projects and submit to different challenges. You can only make one project submission per challenge.
  7. Teams can work on an idea that they have worked on before (as long as they do not re-use code).
  8. Teams can use libraries, frameworks, or open-source code in their projects. Working on a project before the event and open-sourcing it for the sole purpose of using the code during the event is against the spirit of the rules and is not allowed.
  9. Teams must stop hacking once the time is up. However, teams are allowed to debug and make small fixes to their programs after time is up. e.g. If during demoing your project you find a bug that breaks your application and the fix is only a few lines of code, it's okay to fix that. Making large changes or adding new features is not allowed.
  10. Projects that violate the Code of Conduct are not allowed.
  11. Teams can be disqualified from the competition at the organizers' discretion. Reasons might include but are not limited to breaking the Competition Rules, breaking the Code of Conduct, or other unsporting behaviour.

Remember!​

The competition is just a part of the datathon. To make the most out of the event, try something new, teach other people, and make new friends!

Happy Hacking from the TAMU Datathon team!