Hack Esbjerg 2026 Competition Rules

Hack Esbjerg 2026 took place on March 19–20, 2026. These are the rules that governed the competition and ensured a fair, fun, and educational experience for all participants. They are kept here for reference.

The Spirit of the Competition

Hackathons are like marathons. Some people came to compete, but most participated to learn, grow, and have fun. Whatever brought them there, participants were asked to uphold the hacker spirit by collaborating with other teams, helping beginners, and enjoying the experience!

I. Competition Organizer

Business name: Y-A-S ApS
CVR number: 45856186
Address: Bådebrogade 1, Esbjerg, Denmark
Registration date: September 3, 2025

II. Purpose and Competition Details

Purpose: To provide an opportunity for those interested in IT and innovation to test their skills, learn something new, and collaborate with like-minded people.

Challenge: Design and implement software or hardware projects in teams within 24 hours. Projects were evaluated by a jury at the end of the competition.

III. When and Where

Started: March 19, 2026 at 09:00 AM (Europe/Copenhagen timezone) Ended: March 20, 2026 at 14:00 PM Location: S-E-A (EASV) Esbjerg, Denmark

IV. Who Could Participate

Eligibility Requirements

Age: Participants had to be 18 years or older (born on or before March 20, 2008)
Independence: Participants could not be in an employment relationship with the competition organizer (Y-A-S ApS)
Registration: Participants had to register through the official form at https://hackesbjerg.dk
Team Composition: Teams could have up to 4 members and had to be made up of participants who were not organizers, volunteers, judges, or sponsors

Disqualification

Participants could be excluded for:

Interfering with competition fairness
Not meeting eligibility requirements
Breaking competition rules or code of conduct
Unsporting behavior
Obstruction of the event
Being intoxicated during the competition

V. Competition Rules

Team Formation and Participation

Team Size: Teams consisted of 2-4 members
Team Presence: All team members had to be present at the event. Brief departures from the venue were acceptable
Collaboration: Teams could seek advice and support from organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and others
Work Location: All project work had to be done at the hackathon venue

Project Development Rules

Prior Ideas: Teams could use ideas they had before the event
Previous Work: Teams could work on ideas they had explored before, but could not reuse existing code
Libraries and Frameworks: Teams could use libraries, frameworks, and open-source code. However, creating open-source projects before the event solely to use during the hackathon violated the spirit of the rules
Existing Projects: Adding new features to existing projects was allowed, but judges only considered new functionality introduced during the hackathon
Innovation: Projects did not need to be completely original or innovative. Quality of execution mattered more than novelty

Time Management

Submission Deadline: Teams had to stop development when time was up and submit through the designated system
Post-Deadline Fixes: Small bug fixes and debugging were allowed after the deadline (e.g., fixing a few lines of code that broke the demo). Adding new features or making major changes was prohibited

Code of Conduct

Respectful Behavior: All projects and participants had to follow appropriate conduct standards
Fair Play: Projects that violated ethical guidelines or promoted harmful content were not allowed

VI. Competition Format

Submission Process

Teams submitted their solutions through the system announced during the event.

Evaluation Process

Two-Round Evaluation:

Round 1 - Group Presentations

Teams presented to evaluation groups
Each team was evaluated by at least two separate jury groups
Evaluation Criteria:
- Originality — Creativity and innovation
- Expected Impact — Relevance and usefulness
- Technical Difficulty — Complexity and implementation quality
- Presentation & Teamwork — Clarity, communication, and collaboration

Round 2 - Final Presentations

The top projects presented on stage to all participants
The final jury selected the winners — see the winners page

Additional Judging Notes

What we DID judge on:

Technical impressiveness and difficulty
User experience and design quality
Project completion and functionality
Learning and growth demonstrated by the team

What we DIDN’T judge on:

Code quality or cleanliness
Pitch or presentation skills
How “innovative” the idea is
Whether the project solves a real problem

Remember: a team could build something completely useless and still win if they were learning and demonstrating technical skill!

VII. Prizes and Awards

Prize Categories

Grand Prize
Runner-Up
WebLager Challenge and Prosa Challenge (sponsor prizes awarded directly by partners)
MLH Awards

The full list of winners is on the winners page.

Prize Details

Prize details and values were published on the event website before the competition
For teams smaller than 4 members, the number of prizes corresponded to team size
The organizer reserved the right to modify prizes based on sponsor changes
If a winning team did not meet competition conditions, the prize went to the next ranked team

Award Ceremony

Awards were presented immediately after evaluation on March 20, 2026.

VIII. Demos

After development ended, teams demonstrated their projects to each other and the judges.

Demo Guidelines

Show, don’t tell: Teams demonstrated what they built rather than just presenting slides
Broken is okay: Teams presented even if their project wasn’t finished or had bugs
Learning matters: Teams with nothing to demo shared what they tried and learned
Courage counts: Everyone who demoed was recognized for participating

IX. Final Provisions

Agreement and Changes

Participation Agreement: By participating, hackers agreed to these rules. Anyone who disagreed with a condition could not participate
Rule Changes: The organizer reserved the right to modify these rules or cancel the competition, especially if harm might occur. Changes were to be published on our website or Facebook page
Clarifications: The organizer reserved the right to clarify ambiguous conditions and update rules accordingly

Liability

No Liability: The organizer is not responsible for damages related to prizes or participation
No Legal Claims: Participants have no legal claim to prizes

Remember!

The competition was just part of the hackathon experience. Those who got the most out of the event:

Tried something new
Taught and helped others
Made new friends
Learned and had fun!

Thank you for hacking with us — from the Hack Esbjerg team!

Esbjerg on September 13, 2025