hackathon-brief-design

Writes hackathon challenge briefs covering rules, eligibility, tracks, problem statements, and submission checklists.

1|Updated Sep 6, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/samber/dev-event-organizer-skills --skill hackathon-brief-design-samber
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: hackathon-brief-design
Source: https://github.com/samber/dev-event-organizer-skills/tree/main/skills/hackathon-brief-design
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/samber/dev-event-organizer-skills --skill hackathon-brief-design-samber

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Hackathon organizers must publish a single participant-facing document covering rules, eligibility, challenge tracks, problem statements, submission requirements, and evaluation categories, and every dispute at the ceremony traces back to a sentence that document did or did not contain. This Skill produces that brief with defensible defaults, explicit boundaries against sibling skills, and a pre-publication structural gate. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Rules and eligibility drafting: Adopts a published forkable rule set (MLH-style), names the event-specific fields that must be edited, and routes IP or legal questions to counsel rather than drafting legal-sounding text. - Problem statement and track design: Sizes prompt specificity to the time box across four rungs (open theme to fully specified challenge), structures challenge tracks around sponsor and judging capacity rather than headcount, and writes sponsor prompts as buildable problems with published fallback sentences. - Submission checklist and categories: Derives the submission checklist from the already-chosen demo format (expo, stage, video, hybrid), names evaluation categories without weighting them, and publishes an exclusion list of what is not judged. - Use Case: An organizer with a 36-hour event, two sponsors, and a beginners track uses the Skill to produce the full participant brief, including carve-out wording, a wall-clock deadline with late policy, and a seven-item structural pass check before publication. ## Quick Start Write the participant brief for my 48-hour hackathon with two sponsor tracks, covering rules, eligibility, problem statements, submission requirements, and evaluation categories.

Frequently Asked Questions about hackathon-brief-design

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I write a hackathon brief or challenge document for participants?

Fix rules and eligibility first, then write one structured problem statement per track with context, a question, constraints, resources, and a minimum viable submission. Derive the submission checklist from the chosen demo format, name evaluation categories without weights, and publish before registration closes.

How many challenge tracks should a hackathon have?

Scale track count to judging and sponsor capacity, not participant headcount; one project may enter several tracks, so tracks do not split the field. Published guidance suggests about three tracks absent sponsor tracks, and never twenty or more.

Can I just fork MLH's hackathon rules for my event?

Yes, the MLH rule set is explicitly offered for forking and covers team size, crossposting, pre-existing code, AI disclosure, and disqualification. You must still edit event-specific fields: hacking times, eligibility scope, judging mode, team size, and the code-of-conduct link.

Should the hackathon brief include judging criteria weights or scores?

No. The brief names the evaluation categories with written descriptions and prints elimination criteria, but weights, scales, and point totals belong to the separate judging skill. Publishing a weight creates a promise the judging process must then honour or contradict.

What happens if a sponsor's API goes down during the hackathon?

Publish a fallback sentence in the brief before the event: a team whose sponsor integration is unavailable through no fault of its own is judged on its design and integration plan rather than a working call. Improvised during the outage, the same decision reads as a favour.

Can I add a new rule after teams have started building?

No. A rule added mid-event re-scores teams that already finished and applies to a competition nobody entered. The available move is a clarification of existing published text, and the question should be recorded as a sentence the next edition's brief needs.