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Things to keep an eye out for |
First of all, assume non-malicious mistakes from hackers will happen. Some of them are beginners, some may have misunderstood your instructions, or arrived late and missed opening ceremony. Make sure to post all rules on Devpost(or your other submission platform) and that you include everything you go over in your opening ceremony.
That being said, we do see some projects submitted that cheat. This is more common for digital events. You should still check all winning projects regardless of event type for cheating.
The following list should not result in an immediate DQ, but it should prompt you to dig deeper. Talk to the team ask who worked on what part. Ask some questions on who worked on a random bit and have them explain it. Make sure you are proud of your winners an what they made!
Here are common things to check:
- You should check their GitHub(recommended you require this as part of the submissions)
- Did they start before the event?
- Is it one big commit at the beginning of the event? (Remember, some hackers are new! And just don't know how to use Git. One commit at the end of the event is NOT a reason to DQ)
- Does their readme mention a different event?
- Is every team member contributing?
- Is a solo hacker making a really advanced project in a single weekend?
- Are their Timestamps over the weekend when they run the demo in any video/screen captures?
- (If they have a video) Was the video published over the weekend?
- (If they have a video) Does it mention another event? Does it mention yours?
- Look at the team members Devpost profiles - Have they submitted this project to any other hackathons? Does it look similar to an old project in their portfolio?
This list is not exhaustive, there are other checks you can do. These are some recommended things to look out for.