Dates

This hackathon will be live from Friday August 14, 5:30pm - Monday August 18, 8:00pm AEST

SUBMISSON DEADLINE: Monday August 18, 8:00pm AEST

Schedule for in-person events and working sessions:

  • Opening Ceremony - Friday August 14, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
  • Day 1 - Saturday August 15, 1:00pm - 5:00pm
  • Day 2 - Sunday August 16, 11:00am - 5:00pm
  • Day 3 - Monday August 17, 5:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Closing Ceremony - Tuesday August 6:00pm - 9:00pm

 

Eligibility

  1. All participants must be registered in a team via the Registration Form
  2. All participants have bought a valid ticket via the Humanitix event page
  3. All teams must consist of 2 - 4 people max.
  4. At least one member of your team must be a Unimelb student
  5. Each team must present their projects during the Closing Ceremony (Tuesday Aug 18).
  6. Submissions must meet all requirements, and must be submitted by Monday August 17, 8:00pm

 

Acknowledgements and Commitment to Integrity

By registering and entering this competition:

  1. You acknowledge that all work presented by you and your team as part of the submission has not been plagiarised or directly copied from any another source of work.
  2. You acknowledge that AI or AI tools (including but not limited to Figma Make) have not been solely used to create or design any aspect of your submission. All work is entirely your own and if required, you can provide proof of your design process.
  3. You acknowledge that all design assets in your submission are entirely created by either you or your team. If you have used assets from external sources, these sources must be open source and credited in your Devpost submission.

 

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

🚨 All projects will automatically be part of Track 3 in Catalyst 2026 🚨

  • Winning projects will be entered into the Project Auction as part of the Product-thon Closing Ceremony, where teams from Catalyst will be bidding (using points, not money) for their favourite project.
  • If they are unsuccessful in a bid, they will choose from the remaining projects from Product-thon (that are not included in the Auction) to develop in Catalyst.

🚨 Product-thon teams are allowed to opt out of their project being part of Catalyst 🚨

  • This will not affect your team’s eligibility to compete for a prize in Product-thon. Opting out only means that your project will not be used in Track 3 of Catalyst.
  • By opting in, you and your team are not automatically participating in Catalyst 2026. You are welcome to participate in Catalyst if you like, but you will have to purchase a separate ticket.

🚨 For teams who want to participate in BOTH Product-thon and Catalyst 🚨

  • You can choose to stick with your own project from Product-thon to develop for Track 3 in Catalyst, OR choose to bid for a different winning project from Product-thon instead.
  • Please ensure you have purchased tickets for BOTH hackathons!

 

Project and Submission Requirements

Each team must submit ALL of the following by the submission deadline:

  1. One Devpost submission with:
    • A link to your Figma prototype
    • A brief description of your project
  2. One zip file uploaded to the Google Drive Folder with:
    • A downloaded version of your Figma file
    • [Optional] You may include your team’s presentation slides in the zip file
    • Please title your file as TeamName-TrackProduct.zip (e.g. FamJam-Track3.zip)

ALL TEAMS will also need to prepare a short presentation and present their submission during the Closing Ceremony (Tuesday August 18) to be eligible for the competition.

 

Judging Criteria

  1. Research (20pts)

    Does the product reflect an insightful understanding of the design problems and user needs associated with the chosen topic?

  2. User-Centric Design & Innovation (25pts)

    Does the product facilitate an intuitive user flow, incorporate effective UI/UX principles, and strive to innovate unique features?

  3. Visual Identity (10pts)

    Do the colours and typography used contribute towards a cohesive visual identity and enhance the value of the product?

  4. Accessibility (20pts)

    Does the design come together to make the product easy to see, understand, and use for everyone?

  5. Overall Product and Presentation (25pts)

    Does the idea, its execution, and how it's presented all come together clearly and in a compelling manner?

Overall Total = 100pts

 

Recommendations and Considerations for teams:

  1. Design with intention and purpose!

    We recommend you to consider design choices that go beyond visual aesthetics. Consider why you’ve made certain choices, and whether these are backed by research findings or user data. Consider mentioning some key design decisions in your presentation too!

  2. Research to understand and explore!

    Confused on where to go with your project idea? Research related topics, issues, and target users to get greater insight into your chosen track! This helps increase the depth of your design and may open up new possibilities that you haven’t considered before!

  3. Plan your presentation!

    While the majority of the work goes into your Figma prototype and project concept, the presentation is equally as important! This is the judges’ first look at your project, so fully utilize this opportunity by planning out what and how you will present!