Rules and eligibility

1Eligibility

1. The hackathon is open to students currently enrolled in an undergraduate, postgraduate, integrated or doctoral programme at a recognised college or university in India.
2. You must meet rule 1.1 on the registration deadline. IICPC may ask for proof of enrolment, such as a college ID card or a bonafide certificate, at any stage.
3. To be considered for an internship, you must be available for the internship period. IICPC shares the dates with shortlisted participants before interviews.
4. Current IICPC team members and interns, and anyone involved in setting or grading the problem statement, cannot compete.

2Participation

1. This edition is for individuals. You register, build and submit on your own; teams are not allowed.
2. Each person can register once. Registering more than once can lead to disqualification.
3. IICPC sends everything about the hackathon to the email address you register with.
4. To change your registration details, contact IICPC. Changes are not accepted once submissions open.

3Timeline

All times are in Indian Standard Time.

1. IICPC may extend a deadline. Any change is emailed to every registered participant.

4Building your project

1. All project code must be written during the hackathon. You may use open-source libraries, frameworks, pre-trained models and public datasets unless the problem statement restricts them, as long as their licences allow it and you credit them in your README.
2. AI tools are allowed and encouraged. You are responsible for every line you submit and must be able to explain your design and code in the interviews.
3. Discussing ideas in community channels is fine. Sharing code or solutions with other participants is not.
4. Keep your repository private until the final submission deadline has passed.

5Submission

1. Submissions open in the final week of the hackathon. The problem statement sets the exact format; expect a Git repository with a README explaining how to build and run your project.
2. Your submission must build and run from a clean checkout using the steps in your README. A submission that does not build cannot be evaluated.
3. Only the last submission before the deadline is evaluated. Late submissions are not accepted.

6Evaluation

1. Submissions are scored on automated evaluation, such as quality on held-out test data, speed and cost, and on a review of code quality, design and documentation. The problem statement lists the exact criteria and weights.
2. Shortlisted participants are invited to interview rounds with the IICPC team.
3. The evaluation panel's decisions are final.

7Fair play

1. Plagiarism, submitting someone else's work, or reusing published solutions from previous editions leads to disqualification of everyone involved.
2. Do not tamper with, overload or exploit the evaluation infrastructure. Any attempt leads to disqualification.
3. Be respectful in all community channels. Harassment of any kind leads to removal from the hackathon.

8Internships and prizes

1. Internship offers are made at IICPC's discretion, based on the evaluation and the interviews.
2. Prizes and goodies for top performers are announced with the problem statement.
3. IICPC may update these rules if needed. Any change is emailed to every registered participant.

9Registration and your data

1. Register once. Duplicate, automated or fake registrations are removed.
2. The details and resume you submit are used to run this hackathon and for IICPC's recruitment, as the privacy policy explains.
3. By registering, you confirm that you are eligible and agree to these rules, the terms and conditions and the privacy policy.