Introducing Hackathons on AWS Builder Center

Hackathons are listed at builder.aws.com/build/hackathons  or under Hackathons in the More menu on the AWS Builder app . Search by name, sort, or filter by tag. Every hackathon is open to every builder with no application step. Clicking + Join adds you to the Participants tab and requires a Builder ID. Every tab can be read before joining. Joining is what unlocks a project and the ability to post in Discussion. Times are shown in the organizer's timezone, so check the abbreviation against your own before planning around a deadline.

On the Your project tab, click Start your project. A project takes a title (up to 255 characters), a description (up to 512 characters), and a body written in a rich text editor. You can also link a GitHub or GitLab repository, an endpoint or live demo, and a Jupyter or SageMaker notebook. Add a cover image and up to five tags. Work saves automatically, so start now and finish later.

Whoever creates the project becomes the Team leader and can invite up to four other builders who have a Builder ID. Invitations appear under the Invites tab. Only the team leader can edit or delete the project. Team members are listed on it but cannot change the submission. Solo entries are always allowed.

Publishing is submitting. Once published, a project appears in the hackathon's Projects tab where other builders can like and comment on it. Projects stay editable up to the end date. This is the step with no second chance. A draft left unpublished when the hackathon ends cannot be published afterwards and cannot win an award. Publish early and keep editing.

At the end date, everything freezes for judging. When the organizer declares winners, a Winners tab appears with each winning project and its award badge, and every participant receives a notification. Discussion stays open after a hackathon ends, projects lock but the conversation about them does not.

Check out our hackathon Zero to Shipped live today on Builder Center  or on the AWS Builder app .