DevFusion 3.O | The Developers Hackathon

Rules & Guidelines: Read carefully before registering. Participation implies full acceptance of all rules listed below. Eligibility: Open to school and college students. Participants must be from the 2028 to 2032 graduation year batch (college) or currently enrolled in Grade 10, 11, or 12 (school). Teams must have a minimum of 2 members and a maximum of 4 members. Each member must have a separate Unstop account. A participant cannot be part of more than one team. Registering with multiple accounts or teams leads to immediate disqualification. All team members must be registered on Unstop before the registration deadline. Late additions will not be accepted. This hackathon is focused exclusively on app development. Only participants who intend to build mobile applications are eligible and encouraged to register. Registration Rules: Registration is completely free of cost and must be completed via the official Unstop listing only. Registrations through any other channel will not be accepted. Fill out the screening form honestly and completely. Misleading or incomplete submissions will be filtered out at Round 0 itself. A valid portfolio link, GitHub profile, or past project URL must be provided during registration. Blank entries will be rejected. Do not use fake or borrowed profiles. All submissions will be cross-verified during the project review and code review rounds. Registrations close on the deadline date. No extensions will be made under any circumstances. Event Structure – Four Rounds: Round 0 – Screening Round An initial screening to assess participant intent and background. Participants must fill out a form covering their app development experience, past projects, and motivation to join. Incomplete or dishonest responses will be filtered at this stage. Round 1 – Aptitude Round An online aptitude test covering logical reasoning, technical fundamentals, and problem-solving. This round is designed to assess conceptual clarity and analytical thinking. Time-bound and auto-evaluated. Round 2 – Previous Project Submission Round Shortlisted participants must submit a mobile application they have previously built. This is not the hackathon project – this is proof of your existing app development capability. Submit the APK or live link, GitHub repository, and a short write-up explaining your role, the tech stack used, and the problem it solves. Round 3 – Main Hackathon (App Development) The core of DevFusion 3.0. A problem statement will be revealed at the official start time. Teams must build a fully functional mobile application within the defined hackathon window. No pre-built work is allowed. Your app must be submitted with a working APK or live link, GitHub repository, demo video, and README. Round 4 – Interview Round Top-performing teams from Round 3 will be called for a 15–30 minute interview with the evaluation panel. Attendance at this round is mandatory to be eligible for final results and offers. Participation & Conduct Rules: What you should do: Work only within your registered team. No external help is allowed. Use any open-source libraries, frameworks, or UI kits freely. Commit your code regularly – git history will be reviewed by judges. Document your project clearly in the README file. Be respectful and professional toward all participants, judges, and organizers. Reach out to organizers only through the official Unstop messaging system for any clarifications. What you must not do: Take help from anyone outside your registered team during the hackathon window. Submit work that was built before the hackathon officially started. Use paid third-party code or assets without proper disclosure in your README. Copy or plagiarise another team's solution, idea, or codebase. Use AI tools to generate your entire codebase without any original contribution. Share your solution or the problem statement publicly before results are announced. Harass, bully, or disrespect any participant, judge, or organizer in any manner. AI Tools Policy: Using AI tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar for assistance is permitted. However, the core logic, architecture, and implementation must be your own original work. Submissions that appear to be entirely AI-generated with no individual thought or structure will be penalised or disqualified at the judges' discretion. Build Rules (Round 3 – Main Hackathon) The problem statement will be revealed only at the official start time of Round 3. Building before the problem is released is strictly not allowed. You may use any mobile development framework or language – Flutter, React Native, Kotlin, Swift, Dart, or anything else you are comfortable with. Open-source libraries, UI component kits, and design templates are allowed as building blocks. You must mention what you have used in your README. Pre-built projects, clones, or work started before the hackathon window are strictly not allowed. Judges will check commit timestamps and history. Your app must be submitted with either a working APK link or a live deployment accessible for testing. Apps that cannot be evaluated will be disqualified. Your GitHub repository must be set to public at the time of submission. Private repositories will not be reviewed. No submission deadline extensions will be granted under any circumstances. Late submissions will be automatically rejected by the system. Submission Guidelines: Every submission must include all of the following. Incomplete submissions will not be evaluated. Working App Link / APK – A publicly accessible link to install or test your mobile application. The app must remain functional throughout the evaluation period. GitHub Repository Link – Public repo with full source code and a meaningful commit history. A single "initial commit" dumping all code at once will raise serious flags. Demo Video (3–5 minutes) – A screen recording walking through your app, covering the features built, the tech choices made, and what you would improve given more time. Upload to YouTube (unlisted) or Google Drive and paste the link in your submission. README File – Must include a project overview, tech stack used, local setup and build instructions, list of features built, and any known limitations or future scope. Short Write-up (via Unstop submission form) – A 100–200 word description of your approach, the biggest challenge you faced, and what you are most proud of in your submission. Important: Double-check that all your links are working and publicly accessible before hitting submit. Broken links or private repositories will be treated as incomplete and will not be re-evaluated after the deadline. Code of Conduct: Treat all participants, judges, and organizers with respect and professionalism throughout the event. Harassment, bullying, hate speech, or discriminatory behaviour of any kind will result in immediate disqualification and a permanent ban from future events. Sharing your solution or discussing the problem statement publicly on social media, Discord, WhatsApp groups, or any public forum before results are announced is strictly prohibited. Any attempt to bribe, influence, or contact judges directly outside official channels will lead to immediate disqualification. All disputes, concerns, or complaints must be reported to the organizers via the official Unstop messaging system only. Judging & Results: All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges. Their decisions are final and binding. Individual scoring breakdowns will not be shared. Projects are evaluated across six criteria: Code Quality – 25 points App Functionality & Performance – 25 points UI / UX Design – 20 points Tech Stack Choices – 15 points Documentation & README – 10 points Demo Video & Presentation – 5 points The top teams from Round 3 will be invited for a 15–30 minute interview in Round 4. Availability for this call is mandatory to be eligible for final ranking and offers. Results are not negotiable. Requests for re-evaluation, score breakdowns, or personal feedback will not be entertained after the announcement. Results will be declared on Unstop and communicated via email within 5 business days of the final round. Grounds for Immediate Disqualification: Plagiarism or submitting pre-built work Using fake or borrowed profiles Registering with multiple accounts or across multiple teams Sharing the problem statement publicly before results Misconduct or disrespectful behaviour toward any stakeholder Failure to appear for the Round 4 interview without prior notice. Intellectual Property: By submitting, you grant the organizers the right to showcase your project – with full credit to your team – on our website, social media, or other promotional materials. If you use any third-party assets, templates, or open-source code, ensure they are properly licensed and credited in your README file. General Terms: The organizers reserve the right to modify these rules at any time. Registered participants will be notified of any significant changes via email and the Unstop platform. Continued participation after any rule update implies full acceptance of the revised guidelines. DevFusion 3.0 is a completely online event. Participants are responsible for their own internet connectivity and device setup.