Run hackathon teams, submissions and judging in one place
CTF7 runs hackathons for colleges, communities and companies. Registration, team formation, project submissions, mentors, judges and multi-round evaluation share one event. Add a CTF track and it becomes a cybersecurity hackathon, with one leaderboard and one set of certificates.
Hackathon features, from sign-up to demo day
Most hackathons run on a registration form, a shared drive for submissions and a judging spreadsheet that breaks at 2 a.m. CTF7 replaces all three with one workflow that participants, mentors, judges and organizers share.
Team formation
Accept individual or team entries with team-size limits. Organizers see every team and roster in one view.
Project submissions
Teams submit code and project entries, such as repository links, demo videos, decks and write-ups, against a deadline you control, instead of scattering them across email and drives.
Built-in evaluation
Judges score submissions inside the platform against the criteria you define, so results are consistent and traceable.
Multiple rounds
Run an idea round, a prototype round and a finale. Shortlist teams between rounds, so only qualifying teams move on.
Mentors & judges
Invite mentors and judges with limited permissions. They see what they need to guide or evaluate teams, not your admin settings.
CTF tracks
Add a jeopardy CTF, a Raw Ops bug hunt or a defensive challenge alongside the build track. It is a simple way to turn a hackathon into a cybersecurity hackathon.
- Branded event page
- Registration fees in INR
- Invite-only or open entry
- Announcements
- Certificates
- Post-event analytics
How to host a hackathon on CTF7
Six steps from announcement to winners, all managed from one organizer dashboard. For the planning that happens before the platform, such as budget, sponsors and problem statements, read our step-by-step guide to running a hackathon.
Talk to the event teamPublish the event page
Theme, problem statements, prizes, rules, eligibility and schedule, under your own branding. Choose open, invite-only or paid registration.
Open registration and form teams
Set team-size limits, approve entries and close registration at your deadline.
Invite mentors and judges
Give each person the right role. Mentors support teams during the build, and judges get the evaluation view with your criteria and weights.
Run round 1 and shortlist
Collect idea submissions or run a qualifying CTF, score them, and move the top teams to the build round.
Build, submit and judge
Teams submit repositories, demos and decks before the deadline. Judges score in parallel, and announcements keep everyone in sync.
Announce winners and issue certificates
Publish results, issue participation and winner certificates, and review analytics for sponsors and your next edition.
Hackathon judging rubrics that hold up to scrutiny
The most common complaint after a hackathon is "the judging felt random." A written rubric with weights fixes most of it.
Give every judge the same criteria and a 1–10 scale with anchors, for example "3 = works only in slides, 7 = working demo with rough edges, 10 = deployable". Assign at least two judges per submission and average their scores. Keep each judge's scores against each criterion, so you can explain any result a team asks about.
For the finale, many organizers switch from pure rubric scoring to a live demo round, with the rubric as a tie-breaker.
| Criterion | Weight | What judges look for |
|---|---|---|
| Problem fit | 25% | Is it a real problem for a real user? Is the scope realistic for the time available? |
| Technical depth | 30% | Working code in the repository, sound architecture, not just a UI mock. |
| Security & robustness | 25% | Input validation, secrets handling, threat model. Weight this higher for a cybersecurity hackathon. |
| Demo & communication | 20% | A clear demo video or live pitch, and a README another developer could follow. |
Example rubric. Criteria and weights are yours to set per round.
Combine a CTF track with your hackathon
A cybersecurity hackathon works best when builders and breakers share the stage. On CTF7, both tracks share one registration, one team roster and one results page.
- Qualifier round: run a 6-hour jeopardy CTF in round 1 and invite the top teams to the build round.
- Parallel tracks: a build track for security tools and a CTF track for players who would rather break things than ship them.
- Break-the-build finale: finalists' projects become targets in a short Raw Ops round, and teams earn points for vulnerabilities found in rival projects.
- Defensive angle: add a SOC simulation round for blue-team participants, run by our team as a managed event and quoted separately.
A three-round college hackathon, from announcement to finale
This is a sample plan for a tech-fest hackathon with around 200 participants, which fits a Standard event: a fixed ₹9,999 per event, set up with our team in days. Larger or multi-day events are quoted on Premium. Compress it to a weekend for a community hack night, or stretch it for a corporate innovation challenge.
| When | Phase | What happens on CTF7 |
|---|---|---|
| T − 6 weeks | Announce | Event page live, problem statements published, registration and fees open. |
| T − 3 weeks | Teams lock | Registration closes, teams finalized, mentors and judges invited with their roles. |
| T − 2 weeks | Round 1 · Ideas | Teams submit a one-page proposal or play a qualifying CTF. Judges shortlist the top 40 teams. |
| T − 1 week | Kickoff | Announcements go out to shortlisted teams with rules, submission format and the judging rubric. |
| Day 1–2 | Round 2 · Build | 36-hour build with mentor check-ins. Repository and demo submissions close at a fixed time. |
| Day 3 | Round 3 · Finale | The top 10 teams demo live. Judges score against the rubric and results are published. |
| T + 3 days | Wrap-up | Certificates issued, analytics shared with sponsors, winners featured. |
Who hosts hackathons on CTF7
Hackathon organizer checklist
Print this, or paste it into your team channel. The full hackathon organizer guide expands each item. Hosting a CTF too? Our CTF hosting guide covers the challenge side, and the rules template gives you a starting rulebook.
- Problem statements written and reviewed
- Eligibility and team-size rules published
- Registration fee (if any) and refund terms set
- Code of conduct linked on the event page
- Judging rubric with weights and scale anchors
- At least two judges per submission
- Mentor roster and office-hour slots
- Submission format: repo, demo video, README
- Hard submission deadline communicated twice
- Shortlisting rule for each round
- Prizes, sponsors and certificate design ready
- Announcement plan for launch, deadline and results
Other competition formats on CTF7
Practicing solo instead? War Zone bundles challenges, missions and raw targets into time-boxed operations.
Plan your hackathon on CTF7
Tell us the college or company, the expected teams and whether you want a CTF track alongside the build rounds. We reply with how registration, teams and judging would run.
