Dates

Event Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026
Doors Open & Check-in: 9:00 AM CET
Hacking Sprint Starts: 12:00 PM CET
Devpost Submission Deadline: 3:00 PM CET sharp
Live Showcase & Demos: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM CET
Judging Deliberation: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM CET
Winners Announcement & Closing: 5:00 PM CET

Eligibility

Who Can Join: Open to all developers, builders, designers, and tech enthusiasts aged 18 and older.
In-Person Attendance: Participants must be physically present at the venue (VHS Münster, Aegidiistraße 70, 48143 Münster) and hold a confirmed RSVP ticket from the official GDG Münster Event Page.
Team Size: You may participate as an individual (solo) or in teams of up to 4 members. Every team member must be registered on Devpost and listed on the project submission.
Fair Play: Hackathon mentors, speakers, judges, and core GDG organizers are not eligible to compete for awards.

Code of Conduct

We are dedicated to providing a safe, welcoming, and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, religion, or background.

All participants, mentors, judges, and organizers must treat each other with respect and adhere to the official Google Developer Community Guidelines.

Harassment, disruptive speech, or discriminatory actions of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal from the hackathon and venue.

If you experience or witness any unacceptable behavior, please report it immediately to the GDG Münster organizing team.

Project and Submission Requirements

Fresh Projects Only: All projects must be started and developed during the hackathon day. Existing commercial products or previously published repositories are strictly prohibited. You may utilize public open-source libraries, packages, public APIs, and pre-trained foundation models.
Technology Agnostic: You are welcome to use Google ecosystem tools (Gemini, Gemma, ADK, Firebase Genkit, Project IDX, Flutter) or any alternative stack of your choice (Anthropic Claude, Antigravity, OpenAI, local open-weights LLMs, etc.). Tool choice does not negatively impact scoring.
Devpost Submission Package (Deadline: 3:00 PM CET):
- Clear project name and concise summary of the problem solved.
- Description of the system architecture, agent workflows, tool-calling mechanisms, and safety guardrails.
- Public repository link (GitHub/GitLab) with readable source code and setup instructions.
- Complete list of technologies, frameworks, and APIs integrated.
Live Demo ("Hard Demos Only"): Each team must be prepared to demonstrate a functional live execution (terminal CLI, interactive UI, or real-time agent output) on stage. Static slide decks without functional software will not be scored.

Prizes

Award Categories: Prizes and recognition will be awarded based on the final evaluation score of the judging panel.
Swag & Recognition: Exclusive Google and sponsor swag packages for top-ranked projects.
Badges & Credentials: Official digital DevFest 2026 badges and certificates of completion for all verified attendees.
Conditions: Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be substituted or redeemed for cash. Taxes or reporting requirements associated with accepted physical rewards (if any) are the sole responsibility of the winners.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Submissions will be evaluated by Google Developer Experts (GDEs) and community mentors using a 100-point scale:

Agentic Capability & Innovation (40%): Sophistication of autonomous decision-making, effective multi-agent collaboration, tool-calling complexity, and original creative execution.
Security & Trust (30%): Robust system design, mitigation of prompt-injection vulnerabilities, least-privilege tool access, policy-as-code guardrails, and audit logging.
Scalability & Technical Execution (30%): Code architecture, reproducibility, clean repository documentation, and successful live on-stage demonstration.

All decisions rendered by the judging panel are final and binding.