Step 6: Rules and Resources Tabs

Rules and Resources are some of the most important areas of a hackathon site and they both have their own tabs. Rules govern the entire hackathon, while the resources help participants build amazing projects. By adding text to the Rules and Resource text fields Devpost will automatically add these tabs to your hackathon site. To add and edit, you can find these text fields on the Hackathon Site tab under Edit Hackathon.

Here are some important notes for these sections:

Rules. Every participant is required to accept your rules upon registration. Your rules should be a legal document outlining every possible detail of your hackathon. Your rules should contain the obvious (dates, eligibility, project requirements, submission requirements, etc.) but they should also include the nitty-gritty legalities that will help your legal team sleep at night. This includes, but is not limited to, prize paperwork due dates, intellectual property, and rights to promote projects. Please try to make them comprehensive and user-friendly so that they will be clear to people who are looking to enter your hackathon.

Please note: In-person hackathons must also include a code of conduct.

See more about best practices regarding crafting rules.

Resources. You are asking your participants to build software and depending on your requirements, it might be pretty complicated. To help your participants and your hackathon’s success, be sure you list any resources that might help participants build an amazing project. This might include links to documentation, resources, how-to videos, webinar schedules and anything else you think would help. Your resources tab can be made into a beautifully formatted page like these examples:

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Learning a new tool or resource is a daunting task and can turn even the best developers away if it seems complicated or time consuming. Providing guidance, moral and technical support, and resources to new developers strengthens your entire developer audience. Be inclusive to potential net new developers! What tools would you need if you were just getting started?