AI Mode conversation: A new chance to win every month October MLH × DEV Writing Challenge Your hackathon may end after the weekend, but your project story is just getting started. Publish what you built on DEV and help other developers learn from your process. Current challenge window · Eastern Time Oct 1–31, 2026 Colorful illustrations of a trophy, writing window, heart, and top-seven badge How it works 1 Build at an MLH hackathon Create a project at an MLH event. It can be ambitious, experimental, practical, delightfully weird, or all of the above. 2 Tell the story on DEV Publish a post during the current challenge window explaining what you built, how it works, and what you learned. Include #mlhacks. 3 Help people discover it Share your DEV post with teammates, friends, and your wider network. Community response is one part of how projects are selected. Ready to publish? Use the official DEV submission template to turn your project into a clear, complete story. Open submission template $100 Per selected project Give your project another chance to shine Each month, the DEV editorial team will select at least one favorite project. Additional projects may be selected depending on submission volume. Selections consider technical substance, originality, clear storytelling, and community popularity. Great work deserves an audience, so make your post useful, memorable, and easy to share. Your network can help your project stand out Once your DEV post is live, share its link on social media, in your hackathon community, and with the people who cheered you on while you built it. Authentic discussion and engagement help the editorial team see which projects resonate. This page is an overview of the monthly program. Additional participation terms and badge details will be added when finalized.
A new chance to win every month October MLH × DEV Writing Challenge Your hackathon may end after the weekend, but your project story is just getting started. Publish what you built on DEV and help other developers learn from your process. Current challenge window · Eastern Time Oct 1–31, 2026 Colorful illustrations of a trophy, writing window, heart, and top-seven badge How it works 1 Build at an MLH hackathon Create a project at an MLH event. It can be ambitious, experimental, practical, delightfully weird, or all of the above. 2 Tell the story on DEV Publish a post during the current challenge window explaining what you built, how it works, and what you learned. Include #mlhacks. 3 Help people discover it Share your DEV post with teammates, friends, and your wider network. Community response is one part of how projects are selected. Ready to publish? Use the official DEV submission template to turn your project into a clear, complete story. Open submission template $100 Per selected project Give your project another chance to shine Each month, the DEV editorial team will select at least one favorite project. Additional projects may be selected depending on submission volume. Selections consider technical substance, originality, clear storytelling, and community popularity. Great work deserves an audience, so make your post useful, memorable, and easy to share. Your network can help your project stand out Once your DEV post is live, share its link on social media, in your hackathon community, and with the people who cheered you on while you built it. Authentic discussion and engagement help the editorial team see which projects resonate. This page is an overview of the monthly program. Additional participation terms and badge details will be added when finalized.
The October MLH × DEV Writing Challenge is a recurring monthly contest that rewards developers who document the projects they build at Major League Hacking (MLH) events. Sponsored by DEV Community and MLH, the challenge awards $100 USD per selected project along with exclusive community profile badges.
🛠️ How It Works
- Build: Create any software project during an official MLH event. Your build can be a practical tool, an advanced experiment, or a completely unique concept.
- Write: Document your journey during the open challenge window (October 1–31, 2026). You must use the official DEV Submission Template to detail what you built, how you engineered it, and what you learned.
- Tag & Publish: Add the #mlhacks tag to your post so the editorial team can find it.
- Share: Promote your live post across social media and within hackathon spaces. Strong community interaction helps your project stand out to the judges.
⚖️ Evaluation & Selection Criteria
The DEV editorial team reviews submissions at the close of the window, picking at least one favorite monthly winner. Selection metrics include:
• Technical Substance: Deep dive into how you engineered the code and solved problems.
• Originality: The uniqueness or creativity of your project's concept.
• Storytelling Quality: How clearly and engagingly you walk readers through your build process.
• Community Popularity: Authentic peer discussion, comments, and post reactions.
Challenge Attribute Details & Requirements
Current Window October 1 – October 31, 2026 (Eastern Time)
Primary Reward $100 USD cash prize + Exclusive DEV Badges
Mandatory Tag #mlhacks
Prerequisite Must be a project built at an MLH hackathon event
Judging Criteria Technical substance, originality, clear storytelling, and community engagement
Are you planning to write a submission for a project you built recently? If you tell me what your project does and what stack you used, I can help you outline your technical story for the DEV template.
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make one project
Here is a comprehensive project blueprint for a "delightfully weird" yet practical web app that fits the MLH style.
This project, "GitMood," transforms a developer's real-time coding frustration or triumph into a public, interactive musical soundtrack.
🎨 Project Concept: GitMood
What it is: A web application and CLI tool that analyzes the "emotional sentiment" of your recent git commit messages and automatically generates a live, dynamic music playlist or soundscape matching your current developer mood.
• Angry/Frustrated Commits ("fix typo again please work") → Plays heavy metal or chaotic arcade tracks.
• Victoriosos/Proud Commits ("feature fully implemented and tested!") → Plays epic orchestral music or upbeat synthwave.
• Tired/Midnight Commits ("i don't even know what this line does anymore") → Plays low-fi hip-hop or rain sounds.
🛠️ The Tech Stack (Hackathon Friendly)
• Frontend: React.js / Next.js with Tailwind CSS (for a dark-mode, neon-accented dashboard).
• Backend: Node.js (Express) to handle GitHub Webhooks.
• AI/Sentiment Processing: Hugging Face API (free, open-source models like Twitter-roBERTa-base for Sentiment Analysis) to score the commit messages.
• Audio Integration: Spotify Web API or YouTube Embed API to fetch and play music tracks dynamically.
🚀 Step-by-Step Build Plan for Your Hackathon
- The GitHub Hook (The Input)
• Set up a simple Express server that listens for incoming GitHub Webhook data.
• Whenever you run git push, GitHub sends a JSON payload containing your commit message straight to your server.
- The Sentiment Engine (The Brain)
• Pass the string of the commit message to a lightweight NLP sentiment analyzer.
• Extract an emotional score: Positive, Neutral, or Negative.
• Bonus Hack: Look for specific keywords (e.g., swear words, "help", "finally", "refactor") to fine-tune the mood.
- The Audio Router (The Output)
• Map the sentiment score to a specific musical genre.
• Use the Spotify API to trigger a playlist playback or render a custom audio visualizer on your React frontend that adapts its colors based on the mood.
📑 DEV Challenge Submission Template Outline
If you write this project up for the challenge, here is exactly how to structure your story using the template guidelines:
• The Pitch: Give it a funny hook. "We've all been there at 3 AM, writing angry commit messages. What if your code could scream or celebrate with you?"
• How I Built It: Explain how you wired the GitHub webhook to trigger the Hugging Face AI pipeline in under 24 hours.
• Challenges Overcame: Talk about handling asynchronous API calls or dealing with rate-limiting on the music players.
• What I Learned: Reflect on how easy it is to implement lightweight AI sentiment tools into everyday git workflows.
This is a submission for the MLH x DEV Writing Challenge
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