BLACKOUT 2026 — OFFICIAL EVENT RULES 1. Eligibility and Teams

  • BLACKOUT 2026 is an in-person hackathon open to students, developers, designers, freelancers, professionals, and eligible builders.

  • Teams must follow the team-size limits and registration instructions published by the organizers.

  • All participants must complete registration and check-in as instructed.

  • Each participant may compete as part of only one team.

2. The Challenge

  • The official problem statement will be revealed at the event.

  • Participants must build a solution relevant to the announced challenge.

  • Participants must follow the official event timeline and submission deadline.

3. Research and Offline Build

  • Internet access is permitted during the designated research window.

  • When the offline build phase begins, participants must follow the organizers' internet restrictions.

  • Participants must not use unauthorized internet connections, personal hotspots, or other methods to bypass the offline restrictions.

  • The organizers will communicate which resources, tools, and devices are permitted before the build phase begins.

4. Originality and Intellectual Property

  • Projects must be developed during the hackathon, except for permitted starter materials and tools explicitly allowed by the organizers.

  • Teams must disclose pre-existing code, third-party libraries, AI tools, APIs, datasets, and other external resources used.

  • Participants must have the rights or permissions required to use all submitted materials.

  • Plagiarism, copied submissions, fabricated demonstrations, and misrepresentation of contributions may result in disqualification.

  • Participants retain ownership of their projects, subject to applicable law and any clearly communicated event-specific terms.

5. Judging

Projects will be evaluated according to criteria announced by the organizers. These may include:

  • Relevance to the challenge

  • Creativity and originality

  • Technical execution

  • Functionality and feasibility

  • Quality of the demonstration and presentation

Judges' decisions will be final, subject to the event's published procedures.

6. Prizes and Opportunities

  • Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams as announced by the organizers.

  • Internship, freelance, and collaboration opportunities are not guaranteed and may depend on eligibility, performance, availability, and further evaluation.

  • Any additional prize conditions will be communicated by the organizers.

7. Code of Conduct

All participants must behave respectfully toward other participants, organizers, judges, mentors, venue staff, and partners.

Harassment, discrimination, intimidation, disruptive behavior, damage to property, and unsafe conduct are not tolerated. Follow venue instructions and respect other teams' work and equipment.

Report concerns to the event organizers. The organizers may issue warnings, remove participants from activities, or disqualify participants for serious or repeated violations.

8. Safety and Event Operations

  • Participants must follow check-in, venue access, safety, and schedule instructions.

  • Do not tamper with event equipment, network controls, or another team's systems.

  • Organizers may make reasonable operational changes when necessary and will communicate significant changes to participants.

9. Acceptance

By participating in BLACKOUT 2026, participants agree to follow the published event rules and code of conduct.

The organizers may clarify these rules where necessary and will communicate applicable updates to participants.

Organizer: Buildicy
Event: BLACKOUT 2026 — The Unknown Awaits.