HackEd Beta 2026 is a weekend for building your first real project.
HackEd Beta is the University of Alberta Computer Engineering Club’s beginner-friendly hackathon. It runs from Friday, November 13 to Sunday, November 15, 2026, in person at the U of A campus.
In past years, almost 9 out of 10 Beta hackers were at their first or second hackathon. If you’ve never done one, this event is for you. If you have, bring a friend who hasn’t.
What makes Beta different
- Built for beginners. You don’t need a team, an idea or a portfolio. Workshops on Saturday cover the basics, and mentors walk the floor all weekend.
- Feedback on your project. Every team demos live to a judging panel. Judges score on a published rubric (see Rules), and they’re asked to tell you one thing that worked and one thing to fix.
- Real judging. We don’t score slide decks. A small feature that runs live beats a big plan.
- Food, swag and prizes. Meals provided: Fri Lunch, Sat lunch, Sun lunch. Prizes will be announced at opening ceremony.
Requirements
To be eligible for judging, each team must submit the following on Devpost by [11:00 AM] on Sunday, November 15:
- A Devpost project page with:
- What your project does and who it’s for
- How you built it (languages, frameworks, APIs, hardware)
- Challenges you ran into and what you’d build next
- At least one screenshot or photo
- A link to a public GitHub repository (or another public git host) with your project’s code. Commits pushed after the deadline may make your team ineligible.
- All team members added to the Devpost submission.
- [Optional] A demo video (2 minutes or less), as a backup in case your live demo breaks.
What to build: Anything you like. There is no required theme. Web apps, mobile apps, games, hardware and tools are all welcome.
On Sunday you’ll demo live: each team gets 5 minutes to demo and 2 minutes for judges’ questions. Show the working product first and explain it second.What to Build
Prizes
Grand Prize
Finalist Prizes
Best Soloist
To be revealed...
Judges
To be revealed...
Judging Criteria
-
Execution
Does it work? -
Complexity
How much skill did it take? -
Polish
Is it usable and presentable? -
Originality
Have we seen this before? -
Utility
Does it meet a real need?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager