About the challenge

HackMars 3.0: NEON is the third installment of the HackMars hackathon series, an online event where students build programs that change how people learn. This time, we're back to the core of building something that matters, shipping it on time, and competing across four tracks.

 

Tracks (pick one on submission):

  • Productivity: Create a program that can help students around the world remove distractions, work faster, or "gamify" studying.

  • Real World Problem: Research a real-world issue, and create a program that could contribute to solving it.

  • Career + College: Create a program that can help students with college admissions, research of colleges, or find info regarding careers.

  • Program of your own choosing: If the prior tracks are not of your interest, feel free to make your own program, but it should help others and serve a purpose.

Judging criteria:

  • Creativity / Innovation
  • Execution
  • Functionality
  • Impact / Potential
  • Presentation / Pitch

 

Get started

  1. Register on Devpost

  2. [NECESSARY] Join our Discord (https://discord.gg/cmAjrXdPCe) 

  3. Form a team of 1–5.

  4. Build! People in our discord can help you with an questions throughout the event.

  5. Submit a 3–5 min demo video + repo before the deadline.



 

Requirements

What to Build

Create a new project that solves a real problem. You can ship a web/app prototype, extension, bot, hardware concept, or low-code/no-code workflow. You must:

  • Credit all third-party assets and licenses.
  • Adhere to one of the tracks offered.
  • Work efficiently to submit in time.

What to Submit

On Devpost, include:

  • Title + Description: the problem, user, and solution (what it does + why it matters).

  • Demo video (3–5 min): show the user journey and working features.

  • Repo link: GitHub/hosted code or shareable prototype.

  • Track selection and team members.

  • (Optional) Slides/roadmap, live demo link, and screenshots/GIFs.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

1 non-cash prize
TBD
1 winner

Prizes + sponsors to be determined.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Paul Sopin
HackMars

Dmitrii Timoshenko

Dmitrii Timoshenko
M.A. in Statistics from UC Berkeley, works as an Applied Scientist at AWS, and has judged multiple hackathons prior.

Abhijit Roy
Experienced Associate Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services, over 14 years of experience in software engineering.

Misba Khair

Misba Khair
Oracle HCM Solutions Architect with over 10 years of experience and a BCS and IEEE Senior Member.

Mahendran Chinnaiah
Healthcare Applications Architect holding certificates in Microsoft, Google Cloud & Cloudera, with past experience judging hackathons.

Judging Criteria

  • Creativity / Innovation
    How unique the idea is, how much thought went into it.
  • Execution
    How well the program works (points could be lost if there are visible errors, or breaks often)
  • Functionality
    How functional is the program, does it achieve its goal?
  • Impact / Potential
    How impactful could the project potentially be, if launched fully.
  • Presentation / Pitch
    How well the project was put on display, and described.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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