CSC Back-to-School Hackathon

Overview

The CSC Back-to-School Hackathon is an online competition provided by The Webb Schools CSC, targeting students aged 13 to 18. This beginner-friendly event encourages participants to develop technological solutions—such as apps, websites, AI projects, design prototypes, or physical gadgets—that address various challenges in school life. The goal is to improve aspects like studying, scheduling, communication, organization, wellness, accessibility, campus life, or classroom tools for students, teachers, clubs, classrooms, dorms, teams, or schools. Participants are allowed and encouraged to use AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude for brainstorming, coding, debugging, and design, without affecting their scores. However, teams must disclose their AI usage and be able to explain their project, design decisions, and functionality of their final product. The hackathon aims to foster exploration of ideas and building high-quality projects to demonstrate the practical applications of computer science. Teams can consist of individuals or up to four members. The submission requirements include a project name, problem description, explanation of the solution, a demo or visual evidence (link, video, screenshots), a list of tools used (including AI), an AI-use disclosure, and team member names. Providing source code or design files is optional but encouraged. An optional 1-2 minute demo video is also recommended. Winning projects will receive cash prizes and various sponsor-provided credits and subscriptions, with additional recognition for Honorable Mentions. Eligibility for CSC Innovation Awards and sponsor prizes requires projects to be open source or publicly viewable, and teams must grant CSC permission to feature and promote their work. Judges will evaluate projects based on learning, design, creativity, functionality, and impact.

What to build

Build an app, tool, website, or gadget that helps students, teachers, or schools solve a real school-life problem. This can include an AI project, design prototype, or physical gadget. Projects do not need to be perfect or fully finished but should clearly demonstrate the idea, how it works, and its usefulness. AI tools are permitted and encouraged, provided usage is disclosed and the team can explain their project.

Prizes

Key dates

• Momen workshop on building AI-powered applicationsSeptember 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM PDT
• Sponsored participant credits for Render available fromAugust 30, 2026
• Sponsored participant credits for Render available untilOctober 1, 2026
• DeadlineOctober 5, 2026 at 12:00am PDT

Eligibility

To be eligible for CSC Innovation Awards and sponsor prizes, teams must opt in and agree to the following: 1. The project must be open source or publicly viewable after submission. 2. The team must provide a public project link, such as a GitHub repository, website, demo, design file, or project page. 3. The team gives CSC permission to feature and promote the project on CSC’s Instagram, website, club materials, or other CSC-related channels. 4. CSC may contact winning teams after the event to discuss opportunities to help share, promote, or expand the project’s reach beyond the hackathon, such as through school communities, student groups, or other relevant environments. Any additional collaboration or promotion beyond CSC’s own channels will be discussed with the team first. 5. Teams must disclose how they used AI tools, if applicable. 6. Teams must be able to explain what they built, how it works, and what role outside tools or AI played in the final project. Specific eligibility for sponsor prizes applies: - Momen: Does not require the project to have been built with Momen; subject to Momen’s account and platform terms. - Render: Winning project must use Render Workflows; user must be 16 years or older; subject to Render’s terms. - Featherless.ai: Recipient must be eligible under its Terms of Service; users under age of majority need parental consent. - n8n: Does not require the project to have been built with n8n; each recipient must meet n8n’s requirements. - Boot.dev: Does not require the project to have been built using Boot.dev; recipient must meet Boot.dev’s requirements. - KnowledgeOwl: Does not require the project to have been built using KnowledgeOwl; subject to KnowledgeOwl’s terms.

How to enter

1. Find a real school-life problem and identify who it affects and why it matters.
2. Build an app, website, AI tool, prototype, or gadget that helps solve the identified problem.
3. Use any tools, tutorials, APIs, templates, datasets, or AI assistants to help learn and build.
4. Submit your project on Devpost with an explanation, demo or other evidence of your project, and AI-use disclosure.

Submission requirements

• Project name
• Short description of the problem being solved
• Explanation of what the project does
• Demo link, website link, video, screenshots, photos, or another way for judges to understand the project
• List of tools, technologies, APIs, datasets, hardware, or AI tools used
• AI-use disclosure explaining how the team used AI during the project
• Team member names
• Source code, build files, or design files if available (optional but encouraged)
• For physical gadgets: photos or a short demo video showing the prototype.
• For apps, websites, and AI tools: a demo, GitHub repository, screenshots, or 1–2 minute video clearly demonstrating the project.

Judging criteria

• Learning: Can the team clearly identify what they built, why they built it, how it works, and what they learned? AI tools are allowed and will not lower anyone's score, but disclosure must reveal the use of AI and show understanding of the final product.
• Design: Is the project easy to understand and use? A strong project will have a clear interface, thoughtful design, simple user flow, and practical use cases.
• Creativity: Is the idea thoughtful, original, or interesting? A strong project does not need to be complicated, but it should show a clear, non-generic approach to improving school life.
• Functionality: How well does the project work? A strong project should demonstrate the core idea through a working app, website, AI tool, gadget, design prototype, demo, or clear proof of concept.
• Impact: Does the project address a real school-life problem? A strong project will clearly identify who the problem affects and explain why the solution would be useful for students, teachers, clubs, classrooms, or schools.

Sponsors & partners

Resources

• Featherless.ai - One month access to full model catalog
• Momen - $100 in Momen credits
• Momen workshop: Building AI-powered applications with AI + no-code tools
• Render - $50 in Render credits
• Gen.xyz - Free .xyz domain for one year
• n8n - One month of n8n Cloud Pro
• Boot.dev - One month of full Boot.dev access
• Webb CSC Community on Discord
• Webb CSC Instagram