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DEV Weekend Challenge DEV Weekend Challenge

DEV Weekend Challenge

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A short-form challenge that fits into your weekend!

Challenge Status: Ended Ended
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March 12 Update: Winner announcement delayed to March 19!

 

Welcome to our first DEV Weekend Challenge!

This is a short, focused challenge designed to fit into your weekend. The window is intentionally tight, so we've set the timing to ensure that no matter where you are in the world, you'll have the majority of your Saturday and Sunday to participate.

Three winners will each take home $300 USD, an exclusive DEV badge, and a DEV++ Membership. As is tradition, all participants will receive a completion badge.

Key Dates

  • Contest start: February 27, 2026 3:00 AM UTC
  • Submissions due: March 02, 2026 7:59 AM UTC
  • Winners announced: March 19, 2026

Badge Rewards

DEV Weekend Challenge Completion Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Completion Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Winner Badge
DEV Weekend Challenge Winner Badge

Challenge Prompt

Build for Your Community

Think about the communities that are part of your life: your neighborhood, a book club, a local sports league, an open source project, or any other group that's meaningful to you. This weekend, we want you to build something for them.

Your mandate is to build an app that serves a community you're a part of or care about. It can solve a real problem, spark a smile, or both. The best submissions will demonstrate a clear understanding of the community's needs and deliver something that genuinely makes their lives a little easier, more connected, or more fun.

Submission Template

Judging Criteria:

  • Value Prop
  • Creativity
  • Technical Execution
  • Writing Quality

How To Participate

Publish a post on DEV using the submission template. Your post should give us an overview of the community you built for, what you made, and a demo of your project.

Frequently Asked Questions

Participation

Can I submit more than once?

Yes, you can submit multiple submissions but you'll need to publish a separate post for each submission.

  • In the event that you may win multiple times, and your submission is very close with another participant, we will favor the other participant.
  • In the event that you do win multiple times, you will only receive one winner badge.

Can I work on a team?

Yes, you 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, you will need to split the prize 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

Can my submission include open source code?

Riffing on open source code and borrowing and improving on previous work/ideas is encouraged but it's important your changes are significant enough to ensure your submission is valid.

What happens if my submission is considered plagiarized or invalid?

Anything deemed to be plagiarism will not be eligible for prizes. Incidental plagiarism may simply result in your disqualification from the challenge (regardless of the number of other valid submissions you have published). Egregious plagiarism will result in your suspension from DEV entirely. Any non-generic, non-trivial usage of prior work, including open source code must be credited in your 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?

Use of AI is allowed as long as all other rules are followed. We want to give you a chance to show off your skills in realistic scenarios. If you use AI tools to help you achieve your submission, all the power to you.

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 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.

What steps do I need to take to receive my cash prize?

The winner (including each member of a team) may be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release, and provide any additional tax filing information (such as a W-9, social security number or Federal tax ID number) within seven (7) business days following the date of your first email notification.

DEV Weekend Challenge Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends March 2, 2026 at 7:59 AM UTC. Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulation. All entries must be submitted during the contest period. For Official Rules, see DEV Weekend Challenge Contest Rules and General Contest Official Rules.