DEV Community: PrajwalUp

KU HACKFEST 2025 Experience

PrajwalUp — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 07:09:00 +0000

A few months back, I participated in KU Hackfest 2025, which is one of the biggest events under IT Meet. It is an international-level 48-hour hackathon held annually at Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel. The 2025 edition took place from December 24 to 26 and featured a massive prize pool of NPR 1,70,000.

Full Details of KU HackFest 2025

It actually took some time to convince my friends to participate, mainly because we had to skip classes, but I assured them it would be worth it. Eventually, we filled out the registration form on their website. They used GitHub for login, which made me a bit nervous because I was worried teams might be selected based on profiles. While one teammate and I had decent profiles, the other two did not. They also asked for our project idea and execution plan upfront, which felt counterintuitive to me. I always thought hackathons started with a theme reveal where everyone began coding from scratch. It felt like they were encouraging people to prepare projects beforehand, which would technically be a disqualification, but you can’t completely rule out that possibility. Hopefully, no one did that!

Then came the good news, we were shortlisted! We were among the 40 selected teams, which was super exciting. Looking at other team names, I noticed ones like hog2.6 and Mini_Pekka," so clearly, there were some Clash Royale fans as well 😂. Just doing the math made me realize how massive the event was: 40 teams with 4 members each meant 160 participants. Managing accommodation, internet, food, mentors, and volunteers for so many people is no small task, so huge respect and special thanks go to Utkrist Neupane, the Lead Organizer, for making it possible.

On Day 1, the event started at 9:00 AM. Thankfully, the organizers had arranged two buses from Kalanki and Balaju to Kathmandu University; otherwise, changing multiple buses early in the morning to reach by 9 would have been a nightmare. At the entry, we received our ID cards and found our tables labeled with our team names. After a cup of milk tea, we set up our laptops and Wi-Fi to get started. At first, we were completely confused about how to begin since we hadn’t prepared anything beforehand. We did what most developers do and asked GPT for an implementation plan. It quickly gave us a roadmap and divided tasks among the four of us. Our project was related to Vision AI, a field we had limited experience in. Design has always been a pain point for us, so we used Lovable and other AI tools to create the initial barebones UI, allowing us to focus on the logic while AI handled the design.

By lunchtime, we were starving because we hadn’t eaten since the previous night and no breakfast was provided. Lunch coupons were handed out around 1 PM, which felt quite late given our early travel. However, the lunch served at the cafeteria was honestly really good. Even though it was a college canteen, the food tasted almost like home-cooked meals. Each day had at least one non-veg meal, which was nice. Later that day, we were given snacks like samosa, pakoda, jerry, and drinks. It was refreshing, though it felt a bit wasted since we had eaten lunch not long before. Dinner was also good, but waiting in line with around 60 people wasn’t fun. Around midnight, we were given sandwiches, but most participants were already full, so hardly anyone ate them and a lot went to waste.

We kept coding through the night and learning new things. I experimented with agentic AI tools for development, basically "vibe coding." Earlier, I used to code manually and ask GPT only when things broke, but vibe coding was insanely fast and perfect for a hackathon. I also learned about a new editor called Antigravity, which was quite powerful. The internet was a bit of a problem; the Wi-Fi was unreliable despite having 5–6 routers. Ethernet worked well, but we only had one cable per team, so most development happened on just two laptops, basically forcing us into peer coding. The atmosphere was chill, but the cold at night was brutal. Thankfully, there were warm water dispensers and black coffee available. I had brought a thin blanket, which at least helped keep our legs warm. Some participants were coding intensely, while others constantly checked their internet speed, and a few organizers were even playing games on the projector.

Late at night, we were informed about accommodation. We were given sleeping bags and told we could sleep on the stage or at the back of the hall. We chose the stage, which was surprisingly warmer than expected. However, the next night was different. The chain of my sleeping bag slipped off slowly, and since the strap was loose, I was shivering cold without realizing why. I should have taken better care because the next morning I woke up with a sore throat and a light cold. That second night, we ended up sleeping under our tables after working until 2 or 3 AM.

Of course, not everything was perfect. Late at night, the toilets inside the hall ran out of water, meaning no flushing or hand washing. People started using toilets on the lower floor, but those eventually ran dry too. Thankfully, we found other toilets near the cafeteria. Speaking of the cafeteria, we once waited in the old canteen without knowing the location had changed because we forgot to check the Discord announcement. Throughout the event, the organizing team regularly checked in on us, and mentors were available, including Kritam Bhattarai, a recent ICT Award 2025 winner.

Day 2 followed a similar routine of mostly coding. Breakfast was chickpeas (chana), followed by lunch, dinner and then momo as snacks, which wasn’t bad at all. That night, there were fun games like word guessing and bingo, though we skipped the bingo to focus on our project. We also prepared our presentation slides, expecting a stage presentation. By the final evaluation day, we made our last commits by 9 AM. Initially, we thought evaluations would be individual, but the judges arrived late, so the schedule changed to simultaneous evaluations at different tables.

We were in the Open Category. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that no snacks or meals would be provided that day. We waited, only to find out everyone had already gone out to eat. Suddenly, we got a call that our turn was coming up much earlier than scheduled. We rushed to the evaluation hall. We had rehearsed a small act for a stage presentation, but since it was a desk evaluation, that effort went to waste. I’m not a great speaker, but I tried my best. Our project was solid, but I think I messed up the Q&A round and didn't give the best answers, leaving my teammates a bit disappointed.

After the evaluation, we had some tea and waited for the results. Unfortunately, we didn’t win any awards, but it was an amazing learning experience. Once the winners were announced, we had our final meal at a nearby hotel and headed back home, tired, cold, but happy. Overall, KU Hackfest 2025 was an unforgettable experience, and I’d definitely recommend participating in any such hackathons if you ever get the chance.
You can find the latest hackathons in Nepal at Nepvents. May 2026 be the year you join and win hackathon. Good luck 👍.

STN Hackathon 2025

PrajwalUp — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 04:07:58 +0000

STN Hackathon 2025 is an exciting upcoming hackathon going to be held on 6th-7th December 2025. It is a 24 hour hackathon expected to be filled with innovation and tech lovers of Nepal. It is an Open theme full stack challenge open to all developers, designers, ai/ml enthusiasts, innovators and tech lovers. It is organized by IT Skills Training Nepal, Putalisadak.

Full details: Here

You can join as a team of 4 members maximum or you can go solo if you are feeling confident. Registration closes on 4th December, 2025 and limited seats are available so register now to not miss the chance.

Talking about the prizes, the prizes include internship opportunities and even job placement so it is very ideal for students looking to start their career.

Prizes include:
🥇 1st: Rs. 15,000 + Job Placement
🥈 2nd: Rs. 5,000 + 3-Month Internship
🥉 3rd: Rs. 3,000

Participants will also have the chance to connect with tech experts and like minded individuals, receive certificates and gain recognition. Beyond the rewards, the hackathon offers a valuable experience in real-world project development and working under tight deadlines.

If you’re passionate about technology and eager to challenge yourself, STN Hackathon 2025 is the perfect opportunity to learn, create and grow.

For information of all upcoming hackathons and events you can also join Nepvents, the best event discovery platform for tech students in Nepal.

Hackathons In Nepal 2025

PrajwalUp — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:39:24 +0000

I remember hearing the word hackathon for the first time back in college. At first I thought it was just for "hackers" 😅 but later I realized it's not about hacking into something, it's more like "hacking together a solution to a problem". A hackathon is basically an event where people, usually students come together to build something (like an app, a website, hardware, or even ideas) within a short time, like 24 or 48 hours. Sometimes online, sometimes in-person.

I used to think hackathons were out of reach for people like me. I’d see my friends participating regularly, even winning prizes. And I was like where the heck are they even finding these events? I’d Google for “hackathon in Nepal,” but results were mostly old or incomplete. Facebook was too messy. I felt like I was missing out.

Eventually, I decided to really dig in and look for proper platforms. After a lot of random clicking and asking people, I finally found the platforms that actually work. And let me tell you about them and my experience with each one of them.

🟦 Nepvents – nepvents.com

Let’s start with the platform I like the most: Nepvents. This site has become my go-to place for discovering hackathons, tech workshops, meetups, and competitions in Nepal. Unlike others, it doesn’t rely on just one source. It pulls event info from various websites, social media, and announcementsand brings it all together in one place. It’s updated frequently and gives email alerts, so you’ll know about events before your friends do (did that 😎). It even lists online and global events, which will help students from outside the cities. I may not have joined all of them but I honestly don’t remember the last time I missed info on a good hackathon after I started checking Nepvents.

Pros:

✔ Most complete and updated list of tech events in Nepal

✔ Email alerts help you stay ahead

Cons:

✖ Not a social platform, so no team formation/chat features

✖ Some smaller local events may take time to appear

🟪 Pulchowk Events – Discord Server

Pulchowk Events is a community-driven Discord server mostly focused on events happening in and around Pulchowk Campus and Kathmandu.Besides hackathons, they post about all kinds of events, music fests, design challenges, business pitch competitions and more. While they try to verify their info, the coverage isn’t always complete, and it’s pretty limited to the capital area. If you’re outside the valley, chances are you’ll miss many events if you only check out on this server. But it has good following on Discord.

Pros:

✔ Verified event announcements

✔ Can integrate into your own Discord server

Cons:

✖ Mostly Kathmandu/Pulchowk-focused

✖ Not always complete or timely

🟩 ITSNP (IT Students of Nepal) – Facebook Group

ITSNP is a massive Facebook group where Nepali tech students hang out. It gets memes, job posts, questions, project showcases… and somewhere in between, someone might post a hackathon announcement. That’s the problem though, it’s really cluttered. I did find a few unique events here that weren’t listed elsewhere, but they were buried under random posts and often hard to notice in time. The group is great if you want to stay part of the broader student tech community, but I wouldn’t depend on it alone for finding events.

Pros:

✔ Occasional niche events not listed elsewhere

✔ Direct posts from organizers or participants

Cons:

✖ Events buried under unrelated posts

✖ No filtering or notification system

✖ Easy to miss deadlines

🟥 r/technepal – Reddit Community

r/technepal isn’t really a hackathon finder, but more of a general Nepali tech space on Reddit. Still, it surprised me how often I found people posting about forming teams for upcoming hackathons. Sometimes that’s the only reason I even knew a hackathon was happening! So while it’s not meant for event discovery, it’s useful for finding teammates or just staying in the loop. You won’t find an events alert here though.

Pros:

✔ Good for finding hackathon teammates

✔ Posts from real participants

Cons:

✖ No actual listings or regular announcements

✖ Not focused on events

🏁 Final Thoughts

So if you're like me trying to find hackathons just check out Nepvents. It's consistent, updated, and reliable. But do join other platforms as they can be helpful too, especially for community or team finding, but none of them are as focused or fast.

Hackathons have become a fun experience, and I honestly wish I had started earlier. Meeting new friends, working with a team, and trying to build something real. If you’re a student in Nepal interested in tech, do yourself a favor and explore these events. Build something. Fail. Learn. Repeat.

But most importantly have fun!

Maybe I’ll see you in one this year.

Let’s hack something cool 😄