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Hacktoberfest Writing Challenge
Reflect on Hacktoberfest and Flex your writing skills!
Hacktoberfest is officially in full swing! Throughout the month of October, developers from all around the world are coming together to contribute to open-source projects, learn, and grow as a community.
This year, we are excited to support this annual celebration of open-source by providing a space for maintainers and contributors to reflect on and write about their 2024 Hacktoberfest journey.
Running through November 03, the Hacktoberfest Writing Challenge is an opportunity to share your Hacktoberfest experience (regardless of whether or not you complete the four PRs required!) and hone in your writing skills.
For this challenge, we’ll have a prompt for project maintainers and a prompt for contributors. Each prompt will have at least one winner (possibly more depending on how many people complete the challenge), and each winner will receive:
- 6-month DEV++ Membership
- Exclusive DEV Badge
- A gift from the DEV Shop
All participants who publish a valid submission will receive a completion badge.
Key Dates
- Contest start: October 02, 2024
- Submissions due: November 03, 2024
- Winners announced: November 14, 2024
Badge Rewards
Winners
Congratulations to our Hacktoberfest Writing Challenge winners! Read the full announcement post here.
Challenge Prompts
Maintainer Experience
Maintainers! You are the heart of Hacktoberfest. Without you, this celebration wouldn't be possible! Please use this opportunity to record your 2024 experience, whether it was your first or eleventh time maintaining a project that participated in the celebration.
Did you receive valuable contributions? What surprised you this year? How are you doing? Let us know!
Judging Criteria:
- Style and Presentation
- Clarity
- Originality
Contributor Experience
Contributors! You are the lifeblood of Hacktoberfest, ensuring it keeps beating on every year (Sorry, this analogy is getting a bit gross. We’ll stop here). Whether or not you fulfilled all four PRs this year, please take a moment and reflect on your 2024 Hacktoberfest experience.
What did you learn? How do you feel? Tell us all about it!
Judging Criteria:
- Style and Presentation
- Clarity
- Originality
Hacktoberfest Writing Challenge FAQ
Participation
Can I submit to multiple prompts?
Yes, you are welcome to submit to multiple prompts.
Can one submission qualify for multiple prompts?
Yes, if your submission offers a solution to multiple prompts, it can qualify for multiple prompts.
Can I submit to a prompt more than once?
No, you can only submit to each prompt one time.
Can I work on a team?
Participants in the contributor prompt cannot work on a team.
Participants in the maintainer prompt can work on teams of up to four people.
- If you collaborate with anyone, you’ll need to list their DEV handles in your submission post so we can award a badge to your entire team! Please only publish one submission per team.
- DEV does not handle prize-splitting, so in the event that your submission wins the shop gift, you will need to split that amongst yourselves. Thank you for understanding!
How old do I have to be to participate?
Participants need to be 18+ in order to participate.
If I live in X, am I eligible to participate?
For eligibility rules, see our official challenge rules.
Submission
Do submissions have to be in English?
Non-english submissions are eligible for a completion badge but not eligible for prizes due to the current limitations of our judges. We will not be judging on mastery of the English language, so please don’t let this deter you from submitting if you are not a native English speaker! We hope to evolve this in the future to be more accommodating.
Can I use AI?
Your writing must be original but you are allowed to use AI for light support and assistance.
Judging and Prizing
Can there be ties?
In the event of a tie in scoring between judges, the judges will select the entry that received the highest number of positive reactions on their DEV post to determine the winner.
How will I know if I won?
Winners will be announced in a DEV post on the winner announcement date noted in our key dates section.
When will winners receive their Forem Shop gift?
The DEV Team will contact you via the email associated with your DEV profile within, at most, 10 business days of the announcement date to share the details of the shop gift.
When will I receive my DEV badge?
Both participation and winner badges will be awarded, in most cases, the same day as the winner announcement.
When will I receive my prizes?
The DEV Team will contact you via the email associated with your DEV profile within, at most, 10 business days of the announcement date to share the details of claiming your prizes.
Hacktoberfest Writing Challenge Rules
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends November 03, 2024 at 11:59 PM PDT. Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulation. All entires must be submitted during the content period. For Official Rules, see Contest Rules and General Contest Official Rules.
