Clear terms for Cohort 01

What this competition is and how these terms fit in.

Hack4Skills is a premium skills competition platform for university students. Cohort-based programs give teams a clear brief, fair judging, and transparent rules so work is evaluated on merit.

This page governs Cohort 01 (cohort-01). By registering or participating, your team agrees to the policies below together with anything stated on the challenge page when the brief is published.

• Rules may be updated before registration closes; material changes will be dated on this page.
• Questions about interpretation should be sent to the contact email in the footer before you rely on informal advice.

Who can compete and how dates apply.

Teams must have 1–3 members and a single captain responsible for submissions, prize-related correspondence, and official communications.

All milestone dates will be published on the challenge page before registration opens. Placeholder dates are not enforceable deadlines until confirmed in writing on that page or here.

Registration closes at the published time; we do not guarantee capacity beyond any stated team limit in the final brief.

• Captains must use an account they control; sharing credentials weakens accountability and may disqualify a team.
• Participants must be able to enter binding agreements (typically as adults or with required institutional approval per your locale).

What you hand in and what we expect ethically.

Work must be created for this cohort after the brief is published unless the brief explicitly allows pre-existing components or libraries.

Plagiarism, undisclosed third-party code or assets, or misrepresentation of team membership is grounds for disqualification.

Captains submit once on behalf of the team; edits after the deadline are not accepted unless an official extension is announced.

• Cite open-source and third-party materials where required by license or by the final brief.
• Keep repositories and demos accessible through the channels we specify so judges can review fairly.

How scores are produced and how ties are resolved.

Scores use the published rubric weights. Judges receive the same materials for each team to keep evaluation consistent.

We will identify judges when confirmed; until then, no judge names should be treated as final.

Ties for a prize place are broken first by the higher weighted criterion score, then by captain submission timestamp if still tied.

Money-back rules and when prizes are distributed.

Entry fee: Rs. 500. Refund policy will be finalized before payments are accepted.

If the cohort is cancelled before the submission deadline, paid teams receive a full refund minus any non-refundable payment processor fees we are charged.

Prize distribution follows the published formula when at least 10 paid registrations are confirmed; otherwise we may cancel payout, extend registration, or refund per an announcement on this page.

Payouts require valid payment details from winning captains within a window to be specified at results announcement.

You keep your work; we need a narrow right to run the program.

Teams retain ownership of their submissions. Hack4Skills receives a limited license to review, reproduce internally for judging, and display excerpts for cohort documentation with team consent where required.

Do not include confidential or proprietary materials you are not authorized to share.

• If you win or are featured, we may ask for a short quote or logo use; you can decline non-contractual publicity beyond what the rules already allow.

How we handle personal and team information.

We collect data needed to run the cohort: account identifiers (via our authentication provider), team and captain contact details, submission metadata, and optional profile information you provide.

Processing is based on running the competition, fulfilling our contract with participants, and—where applicable—legitimate interests in securing the platform and improving the program. We do not sell personal data or use it for unrelated third-party marketing.

Authentication and core user data are processed through our backend (Appwrite) under configurations you approve at sign-in. Technical and organizational measures limit access to staff and systems that need it.

Submission repositories, demo links, and materials you make public for judging may be visible to judges and designated reviewers; do not include secrets you cannot share.

We retain competition records for a period appropriate to disputes, accounting, and audit needs, then delete or anonymize where we no longer have a legal or operational reason to keep them.

Depending on your region, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict certain processing, and to lodge a concern with a supervisory authority. Contact us at the email below; we respond within a reasonable time.

Children’s participation: this program targets university-level participants. If you believe we have collected data from someone not eligible, contact connect@hack4skills.dev and we will address it promptly.

• Primary contact for privacy questions: connect@hack4skills.dev
• A standalone privacy notice may be linked here before registration opens; until then, this section summarizes our practices for Cohort 01.

How official news reaches your team.

Material updates to deadlines, rules, or prizes will be posted on this site (challenge page, this document, or registration flow) with a clear date where practical.

Email to the captain’s registered address is used for important notices. Captains should monitor inbox and spam folders during the cohort.

• Casual statements on social media or chats are not a substitute for published terms unless we explicitly confirm them in writing.

Expected behavior throughout the cohort.

Treat organizers, judges, support staff, and other teams with respect. Harassment, hate speech, or coordinated abuse of the platform may result in removal.

Do not attempt to undermine judging, scrape private data, or probe systems beyond normal use of the competition tooling.

• Report concerns to the contact email with enough detail for us to investigate.

Escalation path when something goes wrong.

Organizers may request clarification from teams during judging. Decisions on eligibility and disqualification are final except for documented scoring errors.

Formal disputes must be emailed within seven days of results publication with evidence; we respond in writing.

• Informal questions during the cohort should go to the same contact channel for faster triage.

Short answers; the full policy sections above control if anything differs.

How many people can be on a team?

1–3 members, with one captain for submissions and official email.

Can we edit our submission after the deadline?

No, unless we publish an official extension — late changes are not judged.

Who owns our project and repo?

Your team keeps ownership; we only use what you submit under the limited license described above.

How will entries be judged?

By the published rubric weights, with the same materials provided to every judge.

Is the entry fee refundable?

Final refund terms are confirmed before payment opens; we publish refunds if the cohort is cancelled in time.

Do you sell participant data?

No — we use data to run the cohort and platform, not for unrelated marketing sales.

How do we raise a dispute after results?

Email within seven days of results with evidence; we reply in writing.

Where are official updates posted?

On this site — challenge page, this rules page, or registration — dated while registration is open.

Can we use code or assets from before the brief?

Only if the final brief explicitly allows it; otherwise work should be for this cohort.

Who should sign in and manage the team account?

The captain, using email they control — they are responsible for deadlines and communications.